One Piece: Ultimate Adventure
by ultimatedbzmaniac
Summary: This is the tale of the Straw Hat Pirates and their captain, Monkey D. Luffy, as they experience everything this world has to offer, both the good and the vile. Follow them on an epic adventure that will shake the world to it's very core and will change the lives of everyone they've ever encountered. This is my version of One Piece, this is Ultimate Adventure. LuNa
1. The Destined Meeting

Alright I've been planning to write this story for a long time now, and I've finally gotten to it. Now allow me to explain the premise of it. I plan on taking all the Strawhats through my version of the One Piece story, in other words this is going to be an absolutely giant AU story. However instead of just one big change, there will be multiple tiny and giant alterations to all the plot lines within the story, as well as a few things created entirely by me thrown in for the mix. Pairings will consist of Luffy X Nami and Usopp X Kaya. I have yet to decide on any other pairings, I am open to suggestions however.

And as you are about to find out, the first big change is how early three particular Straw Hats meet each other...

Now then, some of you might know me from my first One Piece story, my one-shot known as Anything For His Navigator, and if you do then I've got a little explaining to do, which I shall now get on with. You see I said I would post several one-shots before I started working on this story, however several things prevented me from writing for a while, and after that I went on a bit of a binge, watching around two hundred episodes of One Piece, and in doing so got myself hyped up for this story here...my bad. Anyway so I decided to work on it, and while this is all I have so far, I'm very excited to keep going. I will still get around to those other one-shots though...eventually.

Also this is going to be a very, very long story, so I've got a lot of writing to do, however I've also got a tendency to get sidetracked, so updates will be quite infrequent. All I can truly promise is that I love One Piece to death, and that no matter what, I won't ever abandon this story. In fact I love this story that I'm creating so much, that I even posted the first chapter on my birthday...today. :)

Anyway, time for the disclaimer...

I do not own the rights to any characters or ideas from the Anime/Manga known as One Piece. They are the sole property of their creator Eiichro Oda and no attempt will be made to obtain any profit from the use of said property. I also don't own the image I'm using for the cover of this story, I found it using google search. So with that said please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Two boys stood mere inches apart from each other, inside a cabin in a small marine vessel, as they bickered with each other.

The first one, who stood three inches shorter than the second, wore simple blue jean shorts and a white short sleeved shirt along with brown sandals.

The second wore khaki shorts and a dark black mid sleeve shirt, as well as black sandals.

"Why do you have to be so mean to me!?"

"I'm not being mean you little brat, I'm toughening you up!"

"You sound just like Grandpa, you big jerk!"

"I do not! Say that again and I'll- what, hey let go of me!"

"Put me down Grandpa!"

Garp couldn't help but sigh as he hoisted both of his grandchildren up by the collars of their shirts, this was the third time that the two had gotten into an argument in the past hour. They fought like cats and dogs, and that was not an overestimate. However the vice admiral couldn't exactly blame the two, they had been stuck together on the same boat and in the same room for the past two weeks, and they didn't get along too well to begin with, so with that added it was no wonder they fought so much.

As the two young boys continued to try and wiggle their way out of his grasp, Garp decided that enough was enough. So he exited their room, and once they were out on the ship's deck instead of being inside the cabin, he brought one of them to his left side in mid air, doing the same with the other one on his right, and then before either of the two rambunctious kids knew what was happening, he slammed them into each other head first. When the two boys heads collided there was a resounding clunk, as well as a cry of pain from both of them. Garp then proceeded to unceremoniously drop both young boys onto the ground, causing both to fall to the deck of the boat, landing on their butts as they did.

The aging man then looked down at the two, and sure enough they were looking back up at him, tears threatening to start spilling from their eyes, as they nursed the large lumps on their heads. "That's enough! You two need to learn to get along, your brothers for Christs sake! Besides learning to get along with others is an important lesson to learn if you ever want to become a marine."

Both Luffy and Ace were scowling at this point, they had both decided a year ago that they weren't going to be marines, they were going to be pirates so they could live freely. However unlike his older brother Ace, Luffy wasn't going to keep quiet about it... not that he hadn't already spoke up about it, because he had. "But I already told you, I don't wanna be a marine, I wanna be a pirate! Just like Shanks!"

That's when a scowl formed on Garp's face, "Why you little punk! How many times have I already told you, no Grandson of mine is going to become a pirate!"

Garp added emphasis to this point by punching Luffy on the top of his head, causing the five year old boy to cry out in pain once more. With a smaller lump growing on top of the bigger one, Luffy decided there was no point in trying to argue any further on this topic of conversation. So he simply grumbled to himself, "I don't care what you say, I'll be a pirate someday, just you watch..."

Garp pretended not to hear the boy as he walked away from him and Ace. "Now then, the reason I even came to your room in the first place is because we'll be docking back at Fusha village any minute now."

At these words Luffy perked up, and proceeded to look out over the ocean towards Dawn island as they continued to close in on it. "Your right! This is great, I can't wait!"

Ace however made it quite obvious that he didn't care, as he stood up and made his way back to the room he and Luffy shared.

* * *

Bellemere couldn't help but smile at her two daughters, Nami and Nojiko, as the two ran about on the small ship they were on. This is only the second time they had been on the sea, and Nami being too young to remember the first time, was very excited when she found out they were going on a trip for a while. That's not to say that Nojiko wasn't, because she was, almost as excited as her younger sister. And those two were currently caught up in that excitement as they played together. It was slowly becoming a rare sight, with Nojiko being two years older then Nami she was beginning to insist that she help out with the tangerine orchard, which left her less time to play. And not wanting to be left out, Nami was also trying to help pick tangerines every now and then, so she can spend time with her sister. Nevertheless they liked doing it, and as long as it made them happy Bellemere refused to deny them.

Her smile soon faded though as thoughts of why they were on the boat in the first place came back into her mind. But the twenty seven year old woman quickly banished those thoughts when out of the corner of her sight, she saw an island, the same island they were going to. So as the smile came back to her face, she called out to her daughters, "Nojiko, Nami, look we're almost there."

Both young girls quickly turned to see what their Mother was talking about, and the smiles on their faces grew even bigger as they realized they were about to go ashore.

Bellemere then said, "Yep, in less than twenty minutes we'll be docking at Dawn island, in Fusha village."

* * *

Koshiro's face was adorned with a small smile as he watched Zoro's and Kuina's duel come to a close, with the former as the loser and the latter as the victor. The dark haired man couldn't help but wonder, "How many times have they dueled now? Three hundred and seventy five? Or was it three hundred and eighty? No, the exact number is three hundred and eighty two I believe. Yes that's the correct number."

Zoro had believed he would win within the confined space of the small ship they were travelling on, however Kuina proved once again that no matter how hard he tried he would never beat her. Or at least that was what she told him every time he lost.

Koshiro's smile remained as he turned to look at the island they were nearing, judging from the distance they were at, he guessed it would take around half an hour for them to arrive at their destination, Dawn island, more specifically Fusha village. Koshiro planned on opening a temporary dojo there for a few years. However he wouldn't leave his students unattended, which was why Zoro, Kuina, as well as all of his other students were on the boat with him, at least the ones that had gotten the consent of their parents that is.

* * *

As soon as they were docked, Luffy was off the boat and racing toward Partys Bar, where he knew he'd find Shanks's crew. While Ace on the other hand wandered off in the opposite direction. Garp did nothing to stop either of the boys, he had somewhere he needed to be, he would deal with those two later. This task was of such great importance to the old marine, that he didn't even spare a second of thought to trying to take the red hair pirates into custody, even though he knew of their presence here.

So he made his way past Partys bar, towards an empty two bedroom house. It was in that house that he would meet with who he needed to. Which really was the only reason he wasn't taking care of the red hair pirates, because this was a time sensitive matter and required his attention first.

* * *

Once the ship had docked, and the other passengers had gotten off, that's when Bellemere and her two girls got off. She held both girls's hands, as she looked around for where the meeting place was supposed to be. Not seeing it, she began to make her way farther into the town. She made small talk with both Nami and Nojiko as she did this.

It didn't take very long for her to find said meeting place, considering this was the first time she had ever been on the island she was glad she was able to recognize it when she saw it. She led both her daughters inside the house, before closing the door behind her. That's when someone spoke up, "There you are Bellemere."

The red haired woman's eyes were immediately drawn to the person who said these words, and he looked exactly like she remembered him, well there was just a tiny twinge of grey in his hair now, but nevertheless there was no mistaking who she was looking at, Garp the Fist. "It's nice to see you again and all, but I don't think my girls wanna hear us talk about our time in the marines, so is there anywhere they can go while we talk?"

A smile found its way onto Garp's face at that point, "Sure is, have them head over to Partys bar, they'll be looked after."

Bellemere quirked an eyebrow at that statement, "You want me to send my little girls to a bar?"

Garp couldn't help but laugh at that, "Don't worry about it Bell, the bartender there is really sweet. Her name is Makino, and she'll watch out for them."

Bellemere couldn't help but close her eyes and grit her teeth in frustration, "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

This just caused Garp to laugh once more.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to get her point across, Bellemere merely sighed, before opening her eyes and saying, "Alright then, I'll trust your judgement."

The red haired woman then crouched down so as to look the girls in their eyes, "Nami, Nojiko, I want both of you to do as he said, go to Partys Bar and ask for Makino, tell her Garp sent you, okay?"

Both young girls nodded and replied in unison with, "Okay Bellemere."

With that the two left the house, and since that was done Bellemere got to her feet, and turned towards Garp once more. "Now...let's get down to business."

Garp's smile disappeared and he nodded as he replied, "Alright then, if that's what you want. As I told you in my letter, the Marines are close to finding you, and you know they show no mercy to deserters. I know you had a good reason for going AWOL, but no one up top would care about that."

Silence reigned after that for several moments, before Bellemere responded with, "Then where do we go from here?"

"I think I might be able to fix this, but it's going to take time, and a lot of it. Even with the best case scenario, where everything went perfectly, I'd need a year at the very least."

Bellemere remained silent.

"But while I'm doing this you can't be in Cocoyashi, so I need you and your two girls to remain here in Fusha village until I've finished doing all I can. I can provide you with this house, but I'm afraid that's all I'll be able to do. You'll have to find a way to support them and yourself without your tangerines...I'm sorry that I have to put you in such a difficult position, but it's the best I can do."

A scowl finally managed to etch its way onto Bellemere's face at that point. "Is that so? But what about my tangerine orchard back home? Who will take care of it and harvest them when their ripe? And the villagers, what about them? I told them I'd be gone for two months maximum, what happens when I don't come back? Finally what about Genzo? If we're more than a day late he'll be forming search parties quicker than you can knock someone out, and he's not one to give up either, everyone will be busy searching for us for months. We can't have that happening."

Garp nodded his head in agreement with what Bellemere said, "I understand your worries, but don't let them get to you now. Focus on providing for your family here, while I make arrangements to take care of all those problems for you. I promise you, I'll get it done."

Bellemere sighed at these words, but nevertheless agreed. "Alright."

* * *

Koshiro led Kuina, Zoro and the rest of his students along, as he made his way to the building he would begin preparing to become a dojo. They had docked less than five minutes ago, so they hadn't been walking long. Nevertheless Zoro was already bored, so instead of keeping his eyes on everyone else, he let them wander as he walked. It took less than thirty seconds for something to catch his interest, and what did that was a boy with dark hair, who had just been tossed out the doors of a building no more than twenty feet away from the young green haired boy's position. This event had Zoro halt in following everyone else, as he continued to watch the dark haired boy, who held back tears as he got back to his feet, having landed on his ass when he was thrown, and reenter the establishment, that with a quick glance up Zoro found was named Partys Bar.

However less than twenty seconds later the same boy was once again thrown out of the bar, almost landing flat on his face, this time though the sound of rowdy laughter could be heard coming from the bar in mass. But that didn't stop the black haired boy from getting to his feet once more, before rushing in again. And yet again he was thrown outside, causing all the laughter to grow in volume.

The young green haired boy didn't know exactly what was going on, but that didn't stop him from heading over to the younger boy with black hair. But just as he was close enough to speak to him, he rushed inside the building again. Zoro just followed.

The young swordsman trainee wasn't expecting what he saw, instead of a bunch of cruel jerks tossing a young boy about for fun, he saw a bunch of friendly looking men, drinking, eating and laughing, having a great time. That's when Zoro's eyes found the young black haired boy, as he stared down who appeared to be the leader of the group.

"I'll show you how strong I am! And then you'll have to let me join your crew Shanks!"

The red haired man who was known as Shanks just laughed harder at that statement, "Like I'd ever let a five year old join my crew! Your far too weak, you'd wind up dead in a day! You don't have what it takes to be a pirate Luffy!"

None of the words Shanks spoke had any malice behind them, but they still angered the young boy, "I do too! And I'm not weak, my punch is stronger than a pistol!"

As he shouted these words, the young boy known as Luffy charged forward towards Shanks. However just as he was close enough to actually touch the much older man, he was snatched up by the collar by said man, who continued to laugh as he chucked Luffy in the opposite direction, which would have sent him outside the building, however with Zoro standing in the way...

It took the young green haired boy two seconds too long to figure out Luffy was on a collision course with him, so even as he tried to get out of the way, he still failed.

"Oh cra-"

The swordsman trainee didn't even get to finish his sentence as the black haired boy hit him, knocking him back several feet and right over onto the ground, putting both of them outside, although just barely.

Zoro had cushioned the impact for Luffy a bit, so it only took a second for him to realize he had hit something besides the ground and get up because of it. As he got to his feet he saw who he had been thrown into, it was a boy with green hair, wearing a cobalt blue training Gi and some black sandals. He had sat up at this point, and was rubbing the back of his head as that was one of the two places, along with his torso, that took most of the impact.

Before the other boy could speak, Luffy offered his hand to help him up, wiping away the tears that had wanted to come out not even a minute ago. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

Now normally Luffy wouldn't really care if he got in trouble for something, or made someone angry, however this kid had nothing to with the current situation and had ended up taking some of the impact that was meant for him. Plus he didn't have any friends, and he wouldn't go making any by getting upset at everyone for any little thing they did.

Zoro stopped rubbing his head and looked up at Luffy, which if he was standing up wouldn't need to be done, and spoke, "It doesn't matter, something stupid like that isn't gonna hurt me anyway."

Once he finished saying this he took Luffy's hand and let the younger boy help him to his feet. Now that they were both standing, Zoro shook the black haired boy's hand and said, "Well since we crashed into each other, guess we'd best introduce ourselves huh? My name is Roronoa Zoro."

Luffy couldn't help but give a large smile as he responded, "My name's Monkey D. Luffy, glad to meet ya!"

Zoro couldn't help but smile in return, though not as large as Luffy's. "So...your punch is stronger than a pistol huh? Care to prove it?"

This slight mirth filled question and challenge just made Luffy's big smile grow even larger. He wasn't sure why, but Zoro had a feeling he was going to like this kid.

"Want me to show you?"

"Bring it."

* * *

It only took two minutes for Nami and Nojiko to get to Partys Bar, however before they could enter the establishment two boys hit the ground in front of them. It looked as if they had been thrown, which one of them had been, not that they knew that.

Both girls were taken off guard for a moment, so both remained silent even as both boys got to their feet and introduced themselves, not that either girl heard their names, not really paying attention to what they were saying.

Neither boy seemed to notice the two girls, even as they continued to speak to each other. Which was weird, since if they just turned their heads a few centimeters they'd be quite capable of seeing the girls.

Nojiko was shocked that they didn't seem to notice them, more so than Nami was, who was more curious over the fact that these two seemed to be very different from the boys from back in her village. However they were here for a reason, so they past the boys, neither of the two noticing them still, and entered the bar.

All eyes were drawn to the two young girls, most of the patrons expecting it to be Luffy again, but seeing them raised curiosity nevertheless. Nami and Nojiko seemed to shrink under the gaze of all the men in the bar, and yet they still managed to not show any hesitation as they made their way over to the bar itself. Nojiko was the one to speak, "Excuse us, we're here to see Makino, Garp sent us."

The dark green haired woman who had just served the red haired man just a few feet away perked up at those words. "Is that so? You two must be the daughters of one of his friends, right?"

Both young children nodded their heads.

The woman smiled in return, "Well it's nice to meet you, I'm Makino. Please take a seat girls."

The two children complied and climbed up onto two of the stools, as they did Makino got two glasses and filled them up with orange juice, which both girls gladly accepted. But before they could even take a sip, their eyes, as well as everyone else's, were drawn to the entrance of the building as both of the green haired boy and the black haired boy entered the establishment. What really stood out was the fact that the one with green hair had a red bruise on the left side of his face, and it was no coincidence that it was the same size as Luffy's hand when it's balled up into a fist.

Now no one in the bar knew why Luffy hit the kid, but that didn't stop everyone but Nami, Nojiko and Makino from bursting into rowdy laughter once more.

Zoro didn't even seem upset either, then again only he and Luffy knew that he was the one that asked for it...literally.

Though they entered together, Zoro stayed back as Luffy approached Shanks once more. He climbed up onto the stool beside him before speaking once more, "Listen up Shanks, I'm not going to stop until you make me a member of your crew, and that's that."

Even as Shanks's laughter died down, a wide grin filled with mirth remained. "Is that so?"

Shanks motioned for Makino to pour him a drink and pointed towards the orange juice, even as he continued to talk with Luffy. "Well let me reward you for your tenacity then, here have a drink on me."

He passed the now full glass to Luffy, which the young boy proceeded to thank him for and take a large gulp, which caused Shanks and the rest of his crew to burst out into laughter once again, Makino joining in this time. In reaction to this the dark haired boy put his glass down and asked grumpily, "What is it this time!?"

"Pirates don't drink orange juice you little fool!"

This served to just anger the young boy, "You big jerk! Why'd you trick me like that!?"

"Sorry little buddy, but you're just far too easy a mark!"

Even Nami and Nojiko were laughing at this point, finding the situation quite funny.

Zoro couldn't help but chuckle a bit himself, even if he could personally relate to his new friend's frustration, it was still funny to see.

Luffy huffed in frustration, before crossing his arms in defiance and turning away from Shanks. The young black haired boy then proceeded to get off the stool and head toward the entrance of the establishment. "Come on Zoro, let's go."

Both boys then exited the building.

Nami's eyes followed the boys as they left, which was noticed by only Shanks and Makino, the latter of which said something about it, "I'm not sure who that green haired kid is, however I know the other one pretty well, his name is Luffy, and he's stubborn, but also sweet. If you want to follow after him I'm sure he won't mind."

Nami smiled at those words, and just as Nojiko was going to say that they weren't going to do so, her younger sister did just that as she hopped off the stool and went after them. "Nami wait!"

She didn't though, so Nojiko got off her stool as well and tried to catch up.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro didn't get too far from Partys Bar before someone called out to them, "Hey, wait up!"

Both boys turned back to see who was calling out to them, and they saw a girl with orange hair that neither of them had ever seen before. She wore a yellow and green casual dress and beige sandals.

Zoro spoke at a low volume so you could only hear him if you were close, "I have no idea who she is, do you know her Luffy?"

The young swordsman trainee looked at his new friend as he asked this, however Luffy didn't respond, he didn't even seem to notice the fact that he had been spoken to, his eyes only focused on the girl who was getting so close to them.

Nami had now closed the distance between them, but before she could speak, Luffy said something first, not really realizing what he said until after he said it. "You're really pretty..."

This caused the young girl to blush madly, and Zoro to do a double take at the young black haired boy, now looking at him as if he was nuts. "Are you crazy? She's not pretty at all!"

And just like that the red hue on Nami's face went from being from embarrassment to being that way because of pure rage. "What did you just say!?"

Zoro didn't seem affected by the younger girl's anger, as he merely replied with, "You heard me."

This comment seemed to have quite effect on the young girl, as sharp, shark like teeth suddenly filled her mouth and she proceeded to say, "How would you like me to give you another bruise to match the one already on your big ugly face!?"

The young green haired boy was quite taken back by her now more feral appearance, however he did not back down. So with a condescending tone he said, "You don't scare me little girl."

That was it, Nami quickly lashed out with her left fist and hit the right side of Zoro's face as hard as she could, which knocked him flat on his backside. What Zoro then thought to himself was, "Crap! That hurt almost as much as Luffy's punch did!"

Luffy felt the need to cower away, he couldn't help but think, "She's scary..."

As the young orange haired girl realized that she had just done that in front of a boy who had just gotten done complimenting her, the red hue on her face went back to being from embarrassment, and just like that her sharp teeth were gone, as if they had been illusion, and she went back to looking shy. As Luffy realized this, he sweat dropped.

Nojiko had seen most of this from afar as she had been closing in, but she did not know about Luffy's words. She took a few steps closer so that she could help the green haired kid to his feet, and as she did she asked, "Exactly what did you do to get hit like that? You really must have made her mad."

The blue haired girl had on an amused smirk as she said this. She wore a jean casual dress, over a dark blue shirt and red sandals.

Zoro scoffed before replying with, "I just told her the truth, she isn't pretty, not even in the slightest."

Nojiko sighed at that, "Yep, that'd do it. You brought that one on yourself."

Zoro however just turned away, scoffing once more, causing Nojiko to sigh once more. "Anyway, since we're here, might as well introduce ourselves. I'm Nojiko, and this is my little sister Nami."

This brought the smile back to Luffy's face, as he replied with, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and that there is my friend Zoro. It's good to meet you guys! It's always great to make new friends!"

His smile seemed to be infectious, as Nami and Nojiko cracked small smiles of their own at his words. Even Zoro couldn't help but smirk at Luffy's words, even though you couldn't see it with his back turned.

* * *

Koshiro, Kuina and the rest of the students had finally reached the soon to be new dojo, however once they were inside it didn't take long at all for everyone of them to realize Zoro was nowhere to be found.

When they did come to the conclusion that he wasn't inside the building with them, Kuina face palmed, saying, "I knew his sense of direction was bad, but this is just ridiculous..."

Koshiro merely shook his head slowly, barely believing Zoro got himself lost when all he had to do was follow them.

* * *

The atmosphere in Partys Bar was even more joyful than usual, and this was because Shanks and his whole crew, and Makino as well, were celebrating the fact that Luffy had finally made some friends.

* * *

Ace was no longer even in Fusha village, he was instead wandering the forest outside of said village. He hadn't even run into any wild life yet, which was strange, but the eight year old brushed it off. He was sure he wouldn't find anyone else out here, and yet when he came upon a small clearing with a large rock in the middle, he saw a blonde kid sitting upon it. Which basically proved him wrong.

This boy's clothes were quite unique, he wore a large, fancy black hat with goggles on it, and a fancy blue and black outfit to match, Ace hadn't really seen anything like them. So, his curiosity piqued, he approached the boy. As he got closer, he spoke, "Hey you, what are you doing out here?"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	2. The Birth Of Straw Hat Luffy

Mikalzilla: Well here you go then, next chapter served up on a silver platter. XD

Hanashi: They are aren't they?

apocalyps24: I'm glad you like the first chapter, but as for hoping about Luffy eating a different devil fruit, I'm sorry but this chapter will dash those hopes. Again sorry, but since I first began thinking about what to do with this story I had already decided he'd keep his original devil fruit ability.

DonWar: Really? I haven't yet run across any time travel stories where they meet as children. Could you name a few so I could check them out? I'd really appreciate it. :)

F-ckthesystem125: Well thank you, I'm glad you like it.

Like I said, here's the second chapter. Before we get on with it though, I feel I have to better explain what I mean by 'infrequent updates'. You see when I say that my updates will be infrequent, that basically means I could update anytime, it just depends if I have a whole chapter down, if personal matters get in the way, or my internet goes down. With that said, I plan to release two or three chapters a month, however I could also only put out one chapter within a three month time frame, it just depends on what's going on around me at the time. Sometimes I can get updates out very fast, it really just depends.

There are two big things that really get me amped up and ready to write the next chapter though, the first being watching new episodes of One Piece, english dub, and, (initiate review begging mode), reviews! I love reading your reviews, whether they be praise, constructive criticism or just talking about what you enjoyed in the chapter and what you didn't. Hate flames though, but saying that won't stop them from coming in, now will it? Of course not. Anyway, on with the chapter.

Now then, please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

It had been an entire year since Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Nojiko met, and one year since Garp had left, leaving both his grandsons to fend for themselves in Fusha village...again.

The four children that met that day haven't left each other's sides very often, having become quite attached to each other. However it would be more accurate to say that Luffy, Nami and Zoro were the ones who were attached, for most of the time Nojiko was only around them so as to keep her younger sister from getting into too much trouble. That's not to say she didn't like them, no, in fact she liked them quite a bit.

While the three had indeed grown quite close, getting along was a completely different matter altogether. While Luffy and Nami got along well, just as Luffy and Zoro did, that wasn't the case with Nami and Zoro, for the two were almost always at each other's throats, bickering over this and that, getting into fights over any little thing. Nojiko on the other hand wasn't too friendly with either boy, however they didn't argue much either.

Luffy had yet to introduce them to Ace, much to the younger black haired boy's annoyance.

Nevertheless Luffy was happier than he had been in a long time, he hated being all alone, and that's exactly what he was before, alone. Shanks wouldn't acknowledge him, his Grandpa refused to allow him to follow in the path that he wanted to take, and Ace downright didn't seem to like him, always saying mean things and wandering off on his own, or at least he used too, lately he had been easing up on the mean words, but made up for it with increased wandering. It was a lot better than how he treated him when they first met at least, now that had been bad.

And the fact that Luffy was an outcast among the other children didn't help his feeling of loneliness one bit...

* * *

_Nine months ago..._

_As both Nami and Zoro followed Luffy to his house, they noticed how anybody they came across who wasn't an adult avoided Luffy like some kind of disease. Luffy had told them that they were his only friends, but they both honestly thought it was because the young black haired boy just didn't play with the other kids. They never thought it was because everybody avoided him, which would forever confuse the hell out of them, this was because they had never met someone as nice, carefree and playful as Luffy. So they were baffled that the other kids were doing this, especially since it was in stark contrast to their parents, who seemed to like Luffy. Before either the swordsman trainee or navigator to be could think over this further, they were awoken from their thoughts by their friend's voice, "We're here."_

_The house was a modest one, with no paint and only a few windows. It was obvious that the house had been made right from a tree instead of going through the process to make the wood more suitable, milling the two children would later know it as, looking as if someone had chopped down a few trees and had used the wood almost haphazardly to make this house, when Nami asked her mother about this later she would shake her head and say, 'That's Garp for you.'_

_Luffy opened the door almost hesitantly, as if he just didn't want to enter the house. And once they were inside Nami and Zoro could understand why, it looked abandoned. It wasn't in bad shape, but it was empty. There were no pictures, no furniture, besides the one bed, there was hardly anything in the so called place of living. And judging by all the dust and cobwebs both young children could guess that Luffy didn't really spend any of his time here, not that they could blame him, just being in here could invoke the feeling of loneliness on someone._

_As Luffy went to the bedroom to grab something, Zoro and Nami both glanced out the window closest to them and found that several kids were staring at them, or more specifically at the building they were in. "I can't find it! You guys go on without me, I'll catch up as soon as I find my fishing rod!"_

_Those words got their attention, and hesitantly they left after making sure that Luffy was alright with it._

_However they didn't make it more than a dozen feet from Luffy's home, if you could even call it that, before two kids confronted them. One a boy, and the other a girl, both appearing to be a year older than Zoro. The boy was the one to speak, "What are you two doing?"_

_Nami was the one to respond, "What do you mean?"_

_"Why are you hanging out with that freak?"_

_That took both children back. Nami was confused as she asked, "Freak? You mean Luffy?"_

_The girl finally spoke, sneering as she did so, "You call him by name? What are you, friends?"_

_The tone she took was quickly angering both Zoro and Nami, however the latter was the one to reply, "Yeah we are, and what's so wrong with that?"_

_"Don't you know what he is?"_

_Zoro was the one to speak then, "Stop beating around the bush and tell us what you're going on about."_

_"He's a monster."_

_This caused the anger to drain from both the young green haired boy and the young orange haired girl, they were so taken back by this statement they just blinked their eyes in bewilderment, unsure of what to say. "He's a what?"_

_"A monster. A little over a year ago we tried to play with him but it ended with him breaking my brother's leg and he gave her brother a really bad concussion. We were all just trying to play soccer when he came and ruined everyone's day! He says he was just trying to play, but he ended up kicking my brothers leg along with the ball and broke the bone in two, and the ball he kicked hit her brother in the face so hard that he was in the hospital for over a month. He says it was an accident, but even if it was, nothing human is that strong."_

_The girl picked up where the boy left off, "Plus every time someone's tried to play with him, there was an 'accident' that ended with them being hurt, not one kid has managed to go near him without ending up in the hospital. Everyone he comes near gets hurt, if that's not what a monster is, I don't wanna know how bad real ones must be. Point is that he's a freak, and no one should ever even want to go near him."_

_Both Zoro and Nami had to fight the urge to deck the two kids in front of them...but in the end they failed and both the boy and girl were soon on the ground crying._

_Nami, still angry even after hitting the girl, spoke, "What jerks!"_

_Zoro nodded in agreement, "You're right about that one."_

* * *

Now though Luffy didn't feel so alone, not with Nami and Zoro around. All three of them knew what the other aspired to do, Luffy wanted to be a great pirate captain, Zoro wanted to be the greatest swordsman in the world, and Nami wanted to draw a map of the world, and the three supported each other's goals.

Although Nami was at first very against the idea of Luffy becoming a pirate, she never believed the crap about him being a monster. However it still took some convincing, but Nami eventually began to support Luffy with his goal as much as Zoro did, Nojiko however remained against the idea, or at least she refused to become a pirate herself that is.

* * *

_Six months ago..._

_"But you can't be a pirate Luffy, you...you're too nice! And I don't want you to be a pirate!"_

_Nami was doing her best to hold in the tears that were threatening to spill out as she said these words._

_Luffy was upset as well, though more angry and frustrated then sad. "But Nami, you've always known that I want to be a pirate! I told you that the first day we met!"_

_Nami began to sob at this point, "I know! I just tho-thought that you'd change your mind eventually! Like your Grandpa says, pirates are mean and nasty, I thought you'd realize that and quit wanting to be one! I like you, so I don't want you to become a pirate! Because...because if you do, then...then I can't be your navigator!"_

_Tears had finally begun to fall from Nami's eyes at that point._

_Zoro was scowling at this scene, as was Nojiko, though for a different reason since she agreed with Nami, showing this by nodding her head._

_Luffy took two quick steps towards the orange haired girl, before grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her to look him in the eyes, even as tears threatened to spill out of said eyes. "No! Whether I become a marine, or a pirate, no matter what Nami, you will always be my Navigator!"_

_Nami gave a small gasp, before embracing Luffy tightly as she continued to cry._

* * *

_Later that day after Bellemere and her daughters had finished eating dinner, while Nojiko washed the dishes Nami asked her mother if they could talk about something. Bellemere wasn't a hundred percent sure what Nami wanted to talk about, although she had a good hunch._

_After she had agreed to hear her daughter out, Bellemere watched, amused, as her daughter got all shy and hesitant._

_"Bellemere, what would you say if this boy I liked wanted to become a...a pirate, and I said that I...that I wanted to be his navigator when we got older?"_

_After she finished saying this she closed her eyes tightly, afraid of the verbal lashing she was sure she'd receive. She knew that her Mother used to be a marine and fought pirates, which was exactly why the young girl and her older sister disliked them so much._

_Bellemere's amused smile grew even more after her daughter finished speaking. She knew exactly who Nami was talking about, Monkey D. Luffy, grandson of Monkey D. Garp. She had met him on several occasions, he was a sweet kid, although very wild, but so was Nami, she had also heard a lot about him from Makino, her co-worker since she now worked at Partys Bar as well. She knew how set on becoming a pirate he was, making it quite ironic that he was the grandson of a marine hero such as Garp. But all that aside she liked the kid, and she was pretty sure the two had little crushes on each other, even if they were still in the stage of youth where kissing someone would never even cross their minds. She found it adorable, and quite honestly if this was what Nami really wanted, then Bellemere wasn't going to say no._

_"I'd say that if you really care about him, then there's no way I'll be able to stop you, now is there?"_

_Nami was not expecting that, so she was visibly taken back, her eyes now open and wide open at that. However soon she overcame her shock, before locking Bellemere in a tight hug, repeatedly exclaiming, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"_

_Bellemere couldn't help but chuckle as she hugged her daughter back, she was very pleased that she could make her so happy by saying something so simple._

_Nojiko wouldn't tell either her sister or her mother, but she had heard everything they had said, which put most of her dislike for pirates to rest._

* * *

And that was set in motion because of the lingering tension from what happened two months before that...

* * *

_Luffy was at his limit, he was out of ideas, he now had absolutely no way of convincing Shanks that he was tough enough to be on his crew, and that had him very upset. But that was when he realized something, what was one thing that almost everyone from Shanks's crew had in common? A battle scar of some kind, but what the young boy failed to realize was that most men were proud of their scars because it showed that they had survived a tough battle, not that they had proved just how much pain that they could endure like he thought._

_And with that false realization the young black haired boy knew what to do._

* * *

_The next day, while Shanks was busy partying it up with his crew, too busy to notice him, Nami and Nojiko were preoccupied talking with Makino, and Zoro had his back turned for a few moments to grab a hold of his orange juice, Luffy took action. He hopped off his stool and snuck over to an unsuspecting member of the red haired pirate's crew, and proceeded to steal their dagger from the holster on their left hip. Luffy looked at it for several moments, contemplating how he would do this, doing so without having any second thoughts at all._

_Once the young boy knew where he wanted to do this at, he made his way back over to his seat, before climbing back up onto it, and then climbed up onto the counter itself. He then turned to everyone and shouted to get Shanks's attention, at the same time attracting everyone else's as well. "HEY SHANKS!"_

_With a smile still on his face, the red haired pirate turned to Luffy, wondering what he was up to now. However when he saw the dagger in the young boy's hands his eyes widened and his smile disappeared._

_The intensity in Luffy's words was close to its max as he said, "I've tried everything I can think of to show you that I could be a great pirate, but no matter what I do you refuse to accept me as a crew member! This is the last option I have left! Watch this Shanks, let me show you just how tough I am!"_

_Everyone realized what Luffy was about to do a few seconds too late, because before anyone could stop him he drew the dagger back with both hands, before plunging it into his own face, just a few inches below his left eye. As blood splashed from the self inflicted wound Luffy's cry of pain was echoed by four voices._

_Makino, "Luffy!"_

_Zoro, "What the hell!? You idiot!"_

_Nami, "Luffy no!"_

_Shanks, "You little fool!"_

_Shanks was the first one close enough to do anything, he immediately yanked the dagger out of Luffy's face, before throwing it across the room. "Makino get the first aid kit! We need to disinfect the wound and bandage it up so he doesn't get an infection!"_

* * *

_An hour later, after he had been bandaged up he received a lecture from Makino and Shanks, but what affected him the most was Nami's reaction. Her eyes were red and puffy, even as tears continued to fall from her face. Before the young boy could even get a word out Nami began to pound on the top of his head with both fists, beating him into the ground as she cried repeatedly, "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, you're so stupid! Why would you do that!? You're such an idiot! Why hurt yourself over something like that!? Why!?"_

_Nami stopped hitting the black haired boy as she finished saying this, but no less then a second afterwards she locked him in a tight embrace before speaking once more. "Please don't ever do something like that again, okay?"_

_Luffy was speechless for several long moments as he hugged her back, but he eventually managed to find his voice, "Okay Nami."_

* * *

From that day on Luffy decided that he would become a pirate without Shanks's help, he would be captain, have his own crew and his own adventures. Of course he was sure his two best friends would be by his side when that happened as two of his crew.

* * *

Current day...

Luffy had to fight the urge to slump down in his seat, as Shanks had just made another joke about him being a horrible swimmer. It wasn't as if he didn't try to learn, it was just no matter how hard he tried to get it, he just ended up sinking. Of course thanks to Nami and Zoro, he could now at least keep himself above the water, that didn't change the fact that he was still the worst swimmer in the entire village, bar none. And the red haired pirate just wouldn't let him forget it, no matter what.

The young boy was currently seated in the stool in between Zoro and Shanks, Nami and Nojiko sitting in the two stools to the left of the pirate. And all four of them were laughing about it, the joke that Shanks had made that is. They weren't the only ones either, the entire pirate crew, as well as Makino were laughing it up as well. Yep, Luffy really wanted to slump down in his seat, only problem with that being that it was a stool, which hadn't stopped the young boy before, but the last thing he wanted was Shanks making a joke about him falling down too.

Just then all attention was drawn away from Luffy, as the door to the bar was thrown open violently. The one responsible for opening the door that way entered, leading a group of men inside as he did. Judging by their appearances, they were mountain bandits.

Ignoring all the attention he had called to himself, the man looked around for a few moments, before speaking, "So these are the pirates we heard so much about? They all look like losers to me."

This garnered no reaction from Shanks or his crew, seeing that, the man opted to approach the counter, where Makino proceeded to smile at him politely as well as greet him. "Welcome. What can I do for you?"

The man could tell she was uneasy, so letting an arrogant smirk cross his face, he said, "Don't worry, just give us ten barrels of sake and we'll be on our way, no damage will be done to your bar if you do."

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we're all out of sake at the moment."

The bandit quirked an eyebrow at that, "Is that so? Then what are all these pirates drinking then? Water?"

Makino answered, her polite smile changing into an apologetic one, "It's sake, but it's also the last our stock."

At those words Shanks, the only one who hadn't been watching the man since he entered the establishment, looked up from his drink and spoke, "Oh sorry, looks like we went and drank the place dry. There is still one bottle left that's unopened."

The red haired man then grabbed said bottle off the counter and offered it to the bandit, "It's yours, if you want it."

The bandit scowled at Shanks, before shattering the bottle, the drink it once contained splashing all over the red haired man and the bar. Luffy, Nami, Nojiko and Makino all gasped, while the mountain bandits began to laugh, the pirates on the other hand remained silent, watching their captain, who's head was down with his hat shadowing his eyes so they, as well as his face, couldn't be seen.

The bandit who broke the bottle, who was obviously the boss of the others, then spoke, "You don't know who your talking to, do you? You shouldn't take me lightly, I'm a wanted man with an eight million berry bounty on my head. I am the great mountain bandit, Higuma. One bottle won't be nearly enough for me, let alone my men."

As he said this he slammed his wanted poster onto the counter, using it almost like a business card. At that moment Luffy wished that Bellemere was working today, because if this guy had pulled this crap in front of her, she would've knocked him on his ass.

Everything was quiet after that for a moment or so, before Shanks broke the silence, casting Makino an apologetic glance as he did, "Now the floor's all wet. Sorry about that Makino."

As Shank's got out of his seat and knelt down to begin picking up the shards of glass, he asked, "Do you have a mop?'

Makino quickly came out from behind the counter, speaking as she did so, "Oh, no Captain, it's fine, I can manage it."

Before she could get to Shanks and the mess, Higuma drew his sword and proceeded to slash it along the bar, cutting a groove into the wood and sending everything on that particular section of the counter crashing to the floor to make an even bigger mess. Higuma sneered before speaking once more, "Well if you enjoy cleaning so much, now there's even more to clean up."

All Shank's did in return was stand up and lean back against the counter, not showing an ounce of emotion and keeping completely quiet as he did. And as the pirate captain did that, Higuma sheathed his blade before proclaiming, "No point in wasting our time here if there's no sake, let's go men!"

The mountain bandits were laughing even harder as they left, Higuma making one last remark before walking out the door with the rest of them, "Later, cowards."

With them now gone, Makino came over to Shanks and began to clean him up with a towel she had in her hand, "Are you hurt anywhere Captain?"

Shanks waved her off, a smile on his face as he said, "I'm fine, it's no problem."

Luffy had remained silent the whole time, doing his best to keep his temper in check, however now that the bandits were gone he could no longer keep himself from doing so. "Why did you just let them get away with that!? They insulted you and your whole crew, they ruined your drink, they caused trouble for Makino, and they spit on what it is to be a pirate, don't you care!?"

Shanks remained collected as he took his seat once more, though not looking at Luffy, and answered with, "Of course I do Luffy, but those guys were idiots, they weren't worth the effort. Besides all they did was spill a little booze on me, nothing to get worked up about, right men!?"

That's when the red haired man and his entire crew burst into laughter. And the crew proceeded to take it a step further, making fun of Shanks about how lame he just was.

Luffy, frustrated with the pirate captain's answer, and annoyed with him and his crew in general, reached for the weird looking purple fruit in the chest they had brought in. If he was going to be like that, then Luffy decided he'd just take the food he was saving and eat it himself to get back at him. Zoro didn't say anything as he did this, and Nami tried to whisper to him that it probably wasn't a very good idea, not that the dark haired boy cared. While Nojiko just shook her head back and forth. He even ate it despite it's bitter and all around nasty taste.

By the time Shanks looked back over at Luffy the boy had already stuffed the whole thing into his mouth and was busy chewing, his cheeks puffed out quite comically since his mouth was so full. This piqued the red haired man's curiosity, mainly because he hadn't ordered Luffy anything to eat, and Makino hadn't moved touched a plate in the past few minutes. That's when Shanks realized the small treasure box that was on the counter was empty, and it only took a second for the pirate captain to realize what happened. "Luffy, please tell me you didn't eat that strange looking fruit we brought in with us! You didn't right!?"

These words had Luffy's eyes widening real wide as he realized he had probably just made a mistake. He merely nodded, before accidentally swallowing the thing whole.

And then faster than the four children could see, Shanks was on his feet, holding Luffy upside down by his own feet and shaking him like crazy, a frantic expression on his face, and his voice full of anxiety. "Spit it out, spit it up, choke on it and cough it up, puke it up, I don't give a damn! Whatever you do, just get that thing outta your body you idiot!"

However no matter how hard and fast Shanks shook the six year old boy, none of those things happened. In fact at one point, Luffy's legs stretched, allowing the rest of his body to go down, causing him to hit his head on the floor. This shocked everyone there except for Shanks himself. "You little fool! Do you know what you've done!? You just ate a Devil Fruit Luffy, the Gum Gum Fruit, when someone eats one they gain a inhuman power, but in return they can never swim again! You may be made of rubber now, but how can you be a pirate if just falling overboard out on the sea is a guaranteed death sentence!? You just threw away your future!"

Zoro, Nami and Nojiko were still speechless because of shock.

Luffy's eyes were wide open, and they were locked onto Shanks's, even if he was upside down. His eyes said it all, Luffy knew Shanks wasn't exaggerating, what had just happened would change everything.

* * *

It had been a week since Luffy ate his devil fruit, the gum gum fruit, but not much had changed just yet, besides the fact that Luffy couldn't swim anymore that is. That didn't change the fact that things would be different eventually, they just didn't know how.

As to what Luffy, Zoro and Nami were all currently up to, they were seated beside each other inside of Partys Bar, talking to Makino as they drank their juice. It was a slow day, Shanks and his men were currently preparing to leave the village, for good. They had been here for two years, much too long for any pirate to stay in one place, but they had grown a soft spot not only for the village, but for Makino and Luffy in particular. Shanks especially.

They said they'd come back to visit eventually, but of course they had no idea when that might be. Luffy planned to see them off, in fact he was planning on heading to the docks in less than ten minutes, however not everything always goes how you plan it...

Not one of the young children turned to see who it was as people entered the bar. They didn't think anything of someone coming into the establishment, but that was before they heard a voice, "You smell that boys? That's the smell of fresh air without any pirate scum to stink it up with their lies and cowardice."

All three children knew who's voice that was, it was Higuma's. They wished he would keep his mouth shut, but despite that he continues to speak. "Hey wench, bring as all the rum, sake and liquor you own, we're here to drink!"

Luffy was currently gripping his glass quite tightly in an effort to keep himself calm, slowly cracking the glass in the process as he did so. Trying to keep calm was in vain however, as Higuma continued to run his mouth. "Can you believe their so called 'Captain'? He was such a pushover, I bet I could take the weakling with one hand tied behind my back! He was so pathetic!"

That was when Luffy's grip tightened to such a degree that the glass cup shattered in his hand, luckily he didn't get cut by this. But the noise of this drew Higuma's and his men's attention. "Shut up! Just shut your mouth!"

Luffy jumped off his bar stool before turning to the mountain bandits and continuing, "You don't know what your talking about! In fact you don't know anything! Shanks is a great man, and one of the best pirates to ever exist! A thousand of you couldn't compare to him!"

That effectively put scowls on all the bandits's faces, Higuma was the only one to speak though. "Your going to regret that you little brat."

The Bandit Leader took several steps forward, stopping just inches from where Luffy stood besides his bar stool, before back handing him with all his strength, knocking him to floor.

"Luffy!"

This cry was from both Nami and Makino.

Zoro scowled at what happened, before getting off his seat and calling attention to himself. "Hey stupid, why don't you try and hit me like that? See what happens."

Nami, true to her position as the voice of reason within their three person group, quickly tried to diffuse the situation, getting off her bar stool as well. "Zoro stop, we need to see if Luffy's okay."

As if that was his cue, Luffy got back to his feet, no visible marks on his face at all. Even he seemed confused by this, especially since it hadn't hurt. Nevertheless it didn't dowse any of his anger, "Is that all you got ya big jerk!?"

Higuma's scowl grew larger at those words.

* * *

Several villagers attention was caught as Luffy came flying out of Partys bar, going several more feet than he usually did, tumbling near the end until he was lying flat on his face.

Not even two moments later both Nami and Zoro came out of the establishment and rushed to their best friend's side. Only a moment later they were followed by Higuma and his bandits. And as Higuma slowly approached the three, a very smug smirk continued to grow on his face. "That's what happens when you mouth off to us kid."

With those words said, Zoro turned to face the bandits, his anger evident. "You're a swordsman right? Then draw your sword, because you'll need it!"

The swordsman trainee then drew his two bokken, gripping both tightly in each hand, before proceeding to try and rush the much older swordsman. This elicited a worried cry from Nami, "Zoro!"

The young boy did not even acknowledge her.

Higuma let out a few cocky chuckles, before asking, "Just what do you think you can do with those things? Their just puny wooden swords, they can't compare to the real thing."

"If you believe that then you're not a true swordsman! So just keep laughing your annoying laugh, while I pay you back for hurting my friend by painting you black and blue!"

This caused Higuma's chuckling to turn into full blown rowdy laughter, his underlings all following his lead and bursting into laughter as well.

As his anger grew, Zoro finished closing the gap between him and the bandits, before taking a swing at Higuma's midsection with both wooden swords, that he sidestepped. It was an error on his part however since he still hadn't drawn his sword, so Zoro merely took one step back, and put all the force he could into his right swing, slamming both bokken into the bandit leader's right side, causing the older man to wince in pain. Shocked by this, neither Higuma or his underlings moved fast enough to stop the young green haired boy from spinning almost three hundred sixty degrees to the left and slamming both his dull weapons into the older man's left side, causing him a lot more pain than he thought a child ever capable of inflicting upon him.

As Zoro drew his wooden blades back for another attack, Higuma lashed out with right hook, which he dodged, and then a kick, which he also dodged.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance Higuma decided to finally draw his blade from it's sheathe, doing so with his left hand since it was located on his right hip. "Alright brat, you asked for it. I won't show mercy on you."

Zoro responded by lunging at the older man, and he reacted by taking a swing at him with his sword, which the young green haired boy weaved out of the way from almost effortlessly, before punishing the older swordsman for his sloppy maneuver, doing so by slamming both of his bokken sideways into his lower abdomen, almost forcing a cry of pain from the bandit leader because of the force behind the attack.

A lot more villagers had gathered by now, and they were too shocked, just as the bandits were, to intervene. However both sides were snapped out of it when Higuma spoke up, "What the hell do you guys think you're doing!? Get this kid!"

With that order from their boss, three of them picked Zoro up, one holding him in a full nelson, the other two trying to wrangle his bokken away from him. They succeeded, but only barely. And as the young swordsman trainee continued to struggle and hurl every insult he knew at them, the villagers finally tried to intervene, but the other mountain bandits kept them at bay. Makino had already gone to get the mayor, so all the villagers hoped that he would be able to resolve this, but until then they could only watch. And as they did, more and more of their fellow villagers came to see what was going on.

Higuma sheathed his sword, wincing in pain as he did so, his lower abdomen and both of his sides still hurting from their meeting with the wooden blades. He then took a step closer to Zoro, being suspended in the air by one of his underlings, before he began pound on the young boy. "You think you can make a fool out of me!? I'll show you ya damn brat!"

Luffy was already on his feet at this point, Nami trying her best to make sure he was okay and wasn't bleeding anywhere. As she did this, the young raven haired boy kept the tears that wanted to come out at bay, their existence only coming into being because of how the young boy felt watching as Zoro did his best to fight the mountain bandits, only to have his weapons taken from him and the leader begin to hit him, again and again, not looking intent on stopping for a while.

Without giving Nami any warning, Luffy charged forward toward the mountain bandits, more specifically Higuma himself.

"Luffy don't!"

He didn't listen to her, which annoyed her to no end. Even if they could beat this guy, they couldn't take all of the other bandits on, surely they knew this? The young girl was able to answer her own question rather quick. "Of course they don't. Ugh, why do they have to be so stubborn!?"

The young orange haired girl watched Luffy as he got closer and closer to the mountain bandits, and as she did she sighed, "If it wasn't for me those two would never get anything done. I better go help."

The young pirate to be had gone unnoticed by the bandits as he quickly closed the distance between himself and them, that was of course before he jumped as high as he could and slammed his right fist into Higuma's left side.

This caused the pain in the bandit leader's side to flare up once more, this time it being worse than before. Higuma let out a grunt of pain, barely managing to keep it coming out as a cry, and ceased with his attack on Zoro, his attention now on Luffy. He snatched Luffy up by the collar of his shirt, but as he did this he failed to notice Nami, who was now right in front of him as she brought her right leg back as far as she could, before shooting it forward, kicking him as hard as she possibly could in the shin. "Let him go you big jerk!"

The mountain bandit leader proceeded to hiss in pain, but did not loosen his grip on the struggling raven haired boy. So Nami brought back her leg once more, before kicking upward, slamming her right foot into the man's crotch with all the force she could muster. "I said to let him go!"

This did get the bandit leader to cry out in pain, quite loudly as well.

All men within the vicinity, whether they be villager or bandit, all cringed in unison as this happened.

The agony Higuma was in forced him to drop Luffy as he fell to his knees, tears brought on by the severe pain threatening to come out. Nevertheless the mountain bandit leader's attention was now on Nami, and he quickly retaliated to the kick in the balls he had just received, "Why you little bitch!"

He backhanded the young navigator to be with all his strength, sending her to the ground, where her head took most of the impact, causing her to cry out in pain.

Nami's cry lit a fire within Luffy, and with more anger than he had ever felt before in his ridiculously short lifetime, he shot forward toward Higuma and rammed his right fist into the older man's face, punching him with all his might.

This happened as the mountain bandit leader was trying to get to his feet, so because of the unexpected attack, and all the strength behind it, he stumbled backwards as he got to his feet, hissing in pain once more.

As he did this, Luffy grabbed ahold of his necklace, which proved surprisingly strong as it held the young raven haired boy's weight.

Luffy held onto necklace tightly with his left hand, while repeatedly ramming his right fist into Higuma's face with all the strength he could summon, and as he did he cried, "Don't you hurt Nami!"

As this happened the bandits looked like they were going to help, after they got over their shock from it happening, but Zoro wasn't going to allow it. So as to keep them off of Luffy, the green haired eight year old kicked out with both of his legs as hard as he possibly could, hitting one of the bandits in the chest, causing him to stumble back. He then threw his head back, slamming it into the face of the guy who had him in the full nelson, this headbutt was just what he needed as the bandit let go of him. It was a short fall to the ground, so Zoro was able to land on his feet, however several bandits were upon him immediately and began to beat him mercilessly.

Higuma stumbled around for a dozen or so moments with the young raven haired boy wailing on his face, before eventually tripping and falling backwards, landing on his back on the ground. As this happened, his necklace gave and tore in two at the last moment, but at this point Luffy had given all he could give, he was panting, having put his all in the one handed beating he had put on that bastard's face.

Nami was now on her feet as well, a large bruise already apparent on her face and just a bit of blood trickling from the left side of her mouth.

When the young girl saw Luffy, she rushed over to see if he was okay. He was sitting on Higuma's chest, panting, so she wanted to check him for injuries, and then scold him for being so stupid and reckless.

However once she was close enough to do so, Higuma pushed her to the ground, before wrapping his right hand tightly around Luffy's throat. "My turn you fucking brat."

* * *

Zoro, Nami, Makino, Woop Slap and almost the entire village were standing around the mountain bandits as the leader, Higuma, held Luffy in the air by his throat, slowly cutting off his oxygen.

It hadn't even been ten minutes since the three children had fought back, and luckily the mountain bandits hadn't killed any of them yet. Although Higuma himself was in the process of trying to do so to Luffy.

The only reason Zoro and Nami weren't in the clutches of the bandits at this point was because while they were all focusing on Higuma and Luffy, some of the villagers grabbed the young green haired boy and the young orange haired girl, before putting several feet of distance between them and the bandits, despite their protests of wanting to stay with Luffy.

Mayor Woop Slap had already tried reasoning and bargaining with the bandits, but they refused to be swayed, they were going to kill Luffy no matter what the villagers said. However before they could make good on that Shanks and his crew happened upon the scene, "I was wondering why no one had come to see us off, now I know why."

"Shanks!"

This was called out by Luffy and Makino.

Everyone's attention was drawn to Shanks and his crew at that moment. The bandits then proceeded to insult them and ask how they could save this boy when they themselves were so weak. However they were soon forced to shut up, as the red haired pirate began to walk forward toward them. That's when one of them pulled out a pistol and aimed it at the straw hat wearing pirate, this did not have any effect on him though. In fact he was totally calm, a seriousness in his eye no one but his crew had seen before. "Are you willing to use that pistol?"

"What?"

"Now that you've drawn that pistol, are you willing to use it?"

Then, in the blink of an eye, the plumper member of Shanks's crew, Lucky Roux, appeared beside the man with a gun to his captain's head, a gun of his own now pressed to the would be shooter's head. And then, with no warning, Lucky pulled the trigger and blew the bandit's brains out, ending his life.

The pistol fell from his hand and hit the ground with a clank, before his body fell to the ground as well with a thud.

The fierceness in Shanks's eyes as he proceeded to speak scared the rest of the bandits, including Higuma, out of their minds. "Weapons are for action, not threats. Now I can be a very forgiving man, you can spill food on me, drench me in booze, hell you could even spit on me and all I'd do is laugh it off, but when you hurt a friend of mine, that is unforgivable...and you will die for it."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the damage the bandits had done to both Zoro and Nami, bruises upon the bodies of both of them, the former being covered in them, and the latter only having one big one, and they were both bleeding as well. Zoro from the back of his head, both his nostrils from his broken nose, and some from both sides of his mouth. Nami just had some dribbling from the left side of her mouth. All the damage dealt to them had obviously come from them trying to defend Luffy.

At the same time he also noticed all the damage done to Higuma, to his face in particular. He had a busted lip, and several very familiar bruises, as well as blood sliding out of his nostrils, someone had done a number on his face, that was for sure. And the red haired pirate was a hundred percent sure that Luffy was the one who did it. This caused Shanks to think, "Looks like Luffy shares my sentiment about friends"

Yes, Shanks was more sure now than ever that Luffy would be a great man someday.

One of the bandits then muttered something about them fighting dirty, to which Yasopp set him straight and let him know that they were pirates, it was what they did.

Higuma then gave the order for all of them to attack, which they did, but were all quickly taken down by Ben Beckman, who used nothing but the butt of his rifle to take down every last one of them. This left Higuma in shock for several moments, before he pulled a smoke bomb and escaped, leaving everyone but Shanks and his crew dazed.

* * *

Higuma now stood on a small rinky-dink boat that could barely hold even one person, heading further away from the island. He figured that no one would think to look for a mountain bandit on the sea, and since that was the case he no longer needed Luffy and could kill him, just as he wanted to from the beginning. So he looked him in the eyes and said, "No one can help you out here you little fucking brat, so it's time to send you to your watery grave. And I'm going to enjoy watching as you drown for what you did to me."

Luffy had yet to stop struggling, "Let go of me you bastard!"

Higuma proceeded to then toss the young boy into the ocean, where he struggled with all his might to stay afloat, even though no matter what he would sink. But the mountain bandit could not watch this scene so as to enjoy it, this was because he heard something coming out of the water behind him, which by laying eyes on it he knew it was a sea king. He screamed in horror as it opened it's jaw and sprung forth towards him, and then in an instance the screaming was gone as the beast took the bandit into his maw and proceeded to swallow him and his tiny boat whole.

Luffy continued to struggle and cry for help, but that didn't matter as the sea king now had its sights set on him. The beast went below the surface, but the young boy knew it was still coming for him. As the sea king burst out of the water and towards Luffy he could do nothing but scream for help one more time.

In the blink of an eye Luffy felt himself pulled aside into a one armed embrace, and when the young boy opened his eyes, the sight he would see shocked him.

Shanks was clutching him close to himself with his right arm, he only used this arm because almost his entire left arm was gone, eaten by the sea king, and only a bloody stump was left. And yet shanks remained completely unfazed.

That was when the sea king turned around, intent on coming back for the rest of his meal, but Shanks met his eyes before speaking in a dangerous and commanding tone, "Get lost."

And just like that the beast was swimming away in horror.

Luffy was currently sobbing uncontrollably, his face buried in Shanks's shirt. Seeing this Shanks's tone became gentle once more, "Calm down Luffy, you're safe now, everything is okay."

Between broken sobs the boy spoke, "Bu-but Shanks, your arm!"

"It's okay, it's just an arm. Your life is more important than that."

* * *

The next day...

Luffy stood alone on the docks, as he watched the Red Hair Pirates pack up their ship for the final time. They were leaving for good this time, they wouldn't be back for a long time, if at all, and on top of that they said even if they did come back it would never be for this long again. Their departure was supposed to have happened yesterday, but with all the craziness their departure had been pushed back until today. Luffy was alone because everyone had already said their goodbyes to the lighthearted, good natured pirates.

Shanks approached the young boy to say goodbye, Ben Beckman, Lucky, and Yasopp by his side. When he was merely inches away he looked down into Luffy's eyes and spoke, "It's time for us to leave. Does this sadden you?"

Luffy nodded his head, "Yeah it makes me sad. But I won't ask you to take me with you, I already told you months ago that I'd make my own crew with Zoro and Nami. Even if I still wanted to join your crew, I wouldn't abandon them to do so."

It went unnoticed by Luffy but the spark of admiration that was born in Shanks's eyes yesterday grew at that statement. This boy reminded him of his old captain in so many ways...

A defiant look came into being within Luffy's eyes, as he stated proudly and loudly, "With Nami and Zoro by my side I'll gather a crew and a ship even better than yours! And then I'll find the One Piece and become king of the pirates!"

And then another gleam came to be inside Shanks's eyes, one that his crew recognized as him seeing something amazing. Which he had, after all what are the odds? The same person who reminded Shanks so much of his old captain had just claimed he wanted to follow in his footsteps, it had to be fate. "You're going to become better than us huh? And your going to become pirate king on top of that? Alright, hold onto this for me then."

As Shanks said these words he took off his straw hat and placed it upon Luffy's head. "This hat means a lot to me, promise me that you'll take good care of it and bring it back to me someday, when you become a great pirate."

Luffy nodded his head once more, barely managing to keep the tears in that wanted to come out. "I promise."

With that Shanks and his men turned and walked away, before getting on their ship and setting sail.

Once they were at a certain distance from the island, Ben spoke up, "That kid's really gonna make something of himself huh?"

Shanks didn't nod, but he did respond, "Yeah...he acts just like I did when I was a kid. And sometimes he does things that make him seem just like my old captain. He makes me want to see the next generation that is getting ever closer...and just perhaps he'll be the one to lead it."

* * *

Luffy continued to watch Shanks and his crew sail away from Dawn island, he would not take his eyes off their ship, even with the sun almost done setting, and the fact that the ship was nothing more than a dot on the horizon at this point.

Once the ship could no longer be seen by anyone, Luffy finally turned around and slowly began to make his way off the docks, promising something to himself as he did. "I swear when we see each other again Shanks, I'll be an even greater pirate than you, just you wait!"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	3. Life After Shanks

Hanashi: Not quite yet I'm afraid, we still have a few more chapters to go before the real adventures begin. I'm glad you thought it was worth the wait, and I can't blame you, it's a good emotional scene.

kushjay805: Well thanks, I'm glad you like it.

bcgcdak: Thank you for complimenting my writing, and as for how much will change...well the best way to put it is the same way I did in the first chapter's author's note, instead of just one big change, there will be multiple tiny and giant alterations to all the plot lines within the story, as well as a few things created entirely by me thrown in for the mix. I can't go much deeper into detail than that, otherwise I'll end up giving away things that are going to happen that I don't want anyone to know yet. XP

I'm sorry that I can't answer your question any further than that, and I hope it doesn't negatively influence your decision on whether to keep reading this or not. But whether you do continue to read or not, I thank you for taking the time to do even do so in the first place, and I also want to thank you for taking the time to review so...thank you. :)

F-ckthesystem125: I'm very glad you liked the chapter so much. As for what's next, you'll see, but as you already, since I just wrote it at the top, know, it'll be a few more chapters before their really good adventures start.

Don'tneedtoknow: Well here it is.

Finally here's the next chapter, now then, please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

It had been three weeks since Shanks had left, but with his two best friends by his side Luffy did not mope over that fact because he was happy. Three things had happened in those three weeks though, the first being the fact that the other kids in Fusha village had found out about Luffy's new ability, and that changed things.

* * *

_Twenty days ago..._

_Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Bellemere, Makino and Woop Slap were all currently heading towards the house Garp had built for his grandson, this was because Makino had mentioned heading over to tidy it up, with the Mayor's assistance. Bellemere then insisted that she would come along as well to help, and since it was his house she brought Luffy along to help do some of the actual cleaning. Nami had wanted to help as well, so she tagged along. Zoro on the other hand refused to help, mainly because it wasn't Luffy who had asked him to, partly because he didn't want to clean, nevertheless he ended up getting dragged along anyway because Nami said he had to, and well...she usually gets her way when it came to matters concerning her two male friends. The young green haired boy had put up resistance, but Bellemere ended up stepping in, which meant that he wasn't currently walking to his best friend's house, he was being dragged by his ear to it._

_Once they reached said building a small frown graced the former marine woman's face, but she didn't say anything. Once they entered the house and she took a quick look around however, she did speak, but only to herself, "You've got to be kidding me. Seriously Garp? This is the best you could do? This house can't be anyone's home, not like this, so...empty and devoid of life...as well as joy."_

_As the three adults began to clean, Luffy noticed several children out one of his windows, and a smile stretched across his face as an idea hit him."Maybe if they see my cool new powers, they'll start liking me! And then I'll have even more friends!"_

_With that thought the rubber boy lent the broom he was supposed to be using to sweep against the wall, before exiting through his front door. He stood in front of his house for a moment, making eye contact with one of the children, but before he could go over to them he was stopped by Zoro, the green haired boy placing a hand on his shoulder, the door closing behind him as he did. He had noticed the kids around the same time as his best friend, and once he left out the front door, he proceeded to follow. "Are you sure of what you're about to do Luffy? Just because you've got a devil fruit power now, doesn't mean that they'll treat you any differently."_

_The straw hat wearing boy gave his friend a quizzical look as he asked, "How'd you know I was going to tell them about that?"_

_The swordsman trainee shrugged at that, "I just did."_

_The black haired boy smiled at his friend, "I guess we're just that good of friends, I'm glad. But Zoro, even if their mean to me again, maybe just one of them will like my new power, and then that person will become our friend. Don't you think it'd be worth it? After all, there's no such thing as having too many friends."_

_That was good enough for him, so Zoro removed his hand from his friend's shoulder, doing his best to fight back a frown as he did. "Alright then, go ahead."_

_So Luffy turned to look back at the kids and began walking towards them. As he did Nami exited the house, and seeing what was happening she looked to Zoro, "You didn't just do what I think you did, did you?"_

_The green haired boy nodded as he said, "I did."_

_"You bonehead! How could you!? You know all their going to do is be cruel to him again!"_

_"Luffy seems to think that it'll be worth it if he can make even one more friend, so I let him go."_

_"Why!? He's already got us, why does he need anyone else!?"_

_Zoro leveled a glare at Nami that she hadn't ever seen him use before, "Because we won't always be here."_

_These words took Nami back for a moment, almost as if they were a physical blow, "Wha-what?"_

_"You mean you never considered what would happen when you left and went back to your village? You said it yourself, you're only staying here temporarily, you, your sister and your mother will all leave this island, whether that's tomorrow, or a year from now doesn't matter. As for me, I'll be leaving with my Master when it's time for us to return home. As much as I wish to stay here with Luffy, if I did I would never become as strong as he needs me to be as first mate. We can spar all we like, but the fact is that he's no swordsman, and I won't learn anything about being one by training with him. Sure we're both getting stronger because of the training, but that's not enough. And when we leave, where will that leave Luffy? He'll be all alone again. Sure he has Makino, and his brother, who we still haven't even met yet, but that alone tells you how much he's around. While we will all meet again one day to form our pirate crew, who knows how long that'll be? I don't know about you, but I feel sick thinking about leaving my best friend all alone until then."_

_Nami looked ready to cry at that point, "I guess I never thought about all of that..."_

_Zoro gave the girl a sympathetic look, "I figured that. I wish I didn't have to think about it myself, but it's better than not knowing at all, in which case it would have hit us even harder when we did leave."_

_Still trying to hold her tears in, the young orange haired girl nodded her head, while bowing it, "Yeah."_

_That's when the six year old felt a hand placed gently on her shoulder, so she looked up at Zoro, who's hand was the one on her person. "Look, it'll be okay, we just have to help him find someone to keep him from getting lonely while we're all __separated."_

_Wiping away a few tears that managed to escape, Nami nodded her head once more, "Right."_

_That's when the front door opened once more, all three adults coming out as it did. "What's going on out here?"_

_Before the two children could answer that, their attention, as well as the three adults's, was pulled to Luffy, who had been talking to several kids for a good couple of moments now, when he got a little louder._

_The young rubber boy used his index fingers to fish hook his cheeks, before stretching them outwards far more than is physically capable, and spoke while they were stretched like that, his words still mostly understandable, "See? I'm a rubber person!"_

_He then let go of his cheeks and they came back to their original position with a loud smack. A large smile spread across his face as he said, "Cool huh?"_

_All of the kids's eyes widened to the max at what they just saw, fear quite evident on their faces. Luffy recognized this, so his smile began to shrink, and as two of the kids ran away screaming, he knew it wasn't going to end well. Three of the remaining four children then cried out, "Demon!", "Monster!", "Freak!"_

_Luffy's face no longer bore a smile of any kind, and as the oldest of the four kids spoke up, the young rubber boy had to begin holding in tears, a sad expression on his face as he did. "You ate a devil fruit!? You-you're a abomination! Anyone who eats one of those things becomes something evil! You were a freak before, but now you're a devil! Get away from us!"_

_The straw hat wearing boy tried to reach out to the kids as he replied with, "Bu-but I want to be your frien-"_

_He was cut off however, as he reached forward toward them, the oldest of the kids lashed out in fear and hate, throwing a fist his way, which made contact with the left side of his face. "Stay away from us you monster!"_

_Of course it didn't cause any damage, but it did cause the young rubber boy to stumble back just a foot or so. His face was turned because of the attack, so no one could see it, but when he looked back at the children, instead of the tears that were threatening to spill before, and the hurt expression, his face was completely blank. It lacked any sort of emotion, it was the face of solemn acceptance._

_This went completely unnoticed however, as Makino and Woop Slap were currently struggling to hold back Bellemere, the red haired ex-marine fighting to get over to the children, her temper flaring. "Let me go! I'm gonna teach those brats some damn manners!"_

_Woop Slap was the only one of the two woman's restrainers to respond, "Listen here, you can't just go around beating on other people's kids, no matter how bad they might behave!"_

_"Just watch me!"_

_Just as Bellemere was going to break out of their grasp, having already dragged them several feet, she, as well as they, noticed the fact that Zoro and Nami weren't by the front door anymore. And that they were now in the middle of beating the oldest of the cruel children into the ground, the twelve year old being no match for the two at all, his friends having run off. Seeing this a smirk crossed Bellemere's face, "Way to go you two! Clobber that snot nosed brat!"_

_With that Makino and Woop Slap let go of the ex-marine and went to pry Nami and Zoro off of the preteen. As they did that, the red haired woman looked towards Luffy, watching him for a moment or so, before approaching him and crouching down so as to look him in the eye. "Hey."_

_The young black haired boy's face took on a sad expression once more, as his moment of acceptance had passed. He also acknowledged Bellemere's presence, "Hey."_

_"You shouldn't listen to morons like that, they've no idea what they're talking about. Nothing he said was true, you're not a freak, you're not a monster, and you're most certainly not a devil. You're a sweet kid with a big heart, anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend, and if they can't see that then it's their loss."_

_The straw hat wearing boy nodded his head, but did not give a verbal reply. And as he bowed his head, looking towards the ground, Bellemere knew that her words were not enough. So she sighed, before smiling once more and saying, "I guess it's fair to say you won't be welcome around here anymore, and since that's the case you'll be needing a new place to live. It just so happens that I have a spare room, right next to Nami's room in fact."_

_Luffy's head shot up to where it was level with Bellemere's, his eyes wide as he spoke, "Yo-you mean, I can-"_

_The ex-marine nodded her head, "Go pack Luffy, because your coming to stay with me and my girls."__  
_

_The rubber boy couldn't fight back the huge smile that made it's way across his face as he said, "Yes Ma'am."_

_Bellemere stood up as Luffy raced back to his front door, once he opened it and entered his house, the red haired woman looked toward her orange haired daughter, who was in the middle of being scolded by Woop Slap. "When she finds out he's coming to stay with us, she'll be absolutely ecstatic."_

* * *

Instead of being picked on and avoided, Luffy was now downright feared and hated. He wasn't bullied anymore because no one would even stay in the same area as him, too afraid of him to do so. That had Luffy depressed for a whole day, but he was pulled out of it by Zoro, Nami, Makino and Bellemere. Eventually Luffy just came to accept the fact that they didn't want him around no matter what, so he just stopped coming around, not even bothering to step foot near his own home, if you could call it that, so as to keep away. It wasn't that bad though, because now he could stay with Nami, Bellemere and Nojiko, which made the young boy incredibly happy. And while he hated the chores Bellemere had him do, he did them without much complaint, only doing so light-heartedly from time to time.

The second notable thing that happened in the last twenty one days was when Zoro introduced Luffy and Nami to his master Koshiro and the daughter of his master, Kuina.

* * *

_Two weeks ago..._

_Zoro led both Luffy and Nami to his master's dojo...or at least that was what was supposed to happen. But Zoro ended up getting them lost, where Nami then had to take over and lead them back to Partys Bar, and this happened several times. Eventually Nami got too frustrated to deal with this and asked Makino if she knew where the dojo was. Since she did they followed her directions, and soon found themselves there. All three children removed their sandals and entered, where they were greeted by a man with long black hair tied back into a long pony tail and glasses upon his face, sitting upon his knees. A medium sized smile was on his face as he spoke, "Hello Zoro, who are your friends?"_

_Zoro, Nami and Luffy all bowed before the swordsman trainee replied, "These are the two I told you about, Luffy and Nami."_

_Koshiro's smile widened a little before he replied, "Oh yes, I'm glad we can finally meet. Zoro has told me a lot about the both of you. Proof of the fact that you've known each other for a year, but that makes me curious, why are we just meeting?"_

_Luffy was the one to reply, scratching the back of his straw hat covered head and chuckling nervously as he did so. "Guess it kept slipping our minds."_

_Both Nami and Zoro had to fight the urge to face palm at that very weak excuse. They succeeded, but barely._

_However it seemed to be enough for Koshiro, "I see."_

_That was when someone else entered the room, and as they did everyone's eyes were drawn to them. The person who entered the room was a girl who stood an inch or two taller than Zoro, who was the tallest of the three friends by an inch or so, had dark blue hair and wore a short sleeved white shirt, as well as a pair of knee length black shorts. It only took a moment for her to notice the three friends, and when she did a smirk appeared on her face. "Hey there pipsqueak, who are your friends?"_

_Zoro grit his teeth in annoyance at Kuina's words, he should be used to this by now, but he wasn't and he was pretty sure he never would be. "Their names are Luffy and Nami, their the ones I mentioned in our last couple of duels. Guys this is Kuina."_

_"The ones you've known for a year but only just begun to talk about? Though I guess that might be because of all the brain damage you've probably taken with all the beat downs I've given you."_

_She wasn't even trying to hide the mocking tone to her voice as she said all this._

_Zoro increased the pressure on his teeth, trying to keep them grit so he wouldn't respond._

_Luffy was silent with a frown on his face, Zoro hadn't told him much about Kuina, only that they were rivals and that no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't beat her, but that was enough to know that she was just antagonizing him._

_Nami couldn't help but think she was going to like this girl._

_From there things began to spiral downward extremely fast..._

_It didn't take more than a few more words from Kuina before Zoro challenged her to another duel, and when he lost he demanded a rematch. This happened several times in a row, so Luffy and Nami ended up showing themselves out, although for different reasons._

_Nami left because she wasn't going to wait all day for Zoro, deciding to hang out with Nojiko instead._

_Luffy left a couple minutes after Nami did, but he left because he could tell Zoro would be at it until nightfall, and it would probably go past even that. And for some reason...he had the odd feeling that he wouldn't win a single round, just something of a hunch, but it resonated so strongly in his mind that he believed it. And knowing Zoro would be in a foul mood after all those losses, he decided to show himself out as well, since the green haired boy like to be left alone when he got like that._

* * *

And finally the last notable thing that happened in those three weeks, was when Zoro and Nami finally got to meet Ace. It was definitely an interesting experience, for Ace at least.

* * *

_One week ago..._

_Luffy and Ace didn't get along too well, nevertheless they did care for each other, even if it was so hard to tell that even Luffy didn't think that Ace actually cared for him all that much, even though he did. Still though, Luffy really wanted Ace to meet his two best friends, so he took the opportunity to introduce them as soon as it showed itself._

_Luffy had a mild grin as he introduced his friends to his brother. "Guys this is Ace, my older brother, Ace this is Zoro, and this is Nami, their my best friends and two of my future crew mates."_

_Luffy chuckled as he finished speaking, purely out of glee._

_At those words Nami and Zoro both smiled, while Ace also couldn't help but crack a grin as well. "Is that so? And exactly what positions are they going to fill?"_

_The younger black haired boy's smile grew larger at those words. As he answered he gestured towards Zoro, and excitedly went on about his friend, "We've already got that all figured out! Zoro is gonna be my swordsman, and since he's my first friend he'll also be my first mate! He can fill two positions! Oh and he uses two swords and is really strong!"_

_Luffy then gestured toward Nami as he continued to speak, just as excited to talk about her as he was Zoro. "And this is Nami, she's my navigator, and she's really good at drawing maps too! Also when we get lost on land, she's the only one who knows how to get us all un-lost."_

_Ace couldn't help but chuckle to himself, when he had time to talk to Luffy he'd go on and on about his friends, the older sibling was glad to see him so happy. It was, unfortunately, a rare sight. He was always so alone, even when he got reprieves from that loneliness, whether it be with Shanks, Makino, Woop Slap or even Garp the young boy was grateful. Above all else Luffy feared being alone, and Ace knew this because a little over two years ago the boy had managed to worm his way into his heart, which no one had managed to do. He was only seven at the time, but his view on the world was already quite dark and bleak because of his heritage as well as other things. But still the younger black haired boy had refused to take no for an answer when it came to Ace becoming his friend. And that was where the path to them becoming siblings had started, and now they were just that, brothers, even if they weren't related by blood._

_What had surprised him though was that by the way his younger brother went on about this Nami girl, that he had to have a crush on her. And Luffy hadn't even seemed to notice girls existed before, which could not have been a coincidence. While seeing her in person proved that she was indeed pretty as Luffy had said several times, though in the most unusual ways, it did not give the older boy any insight into what made Luffy see her in a different way than other girls._

_The oldest in the room was soon awoken from his musings as his little brother spoke once more._

_Finally Luffy gestured toward Ace, before saying, "What about you Ace? Wanna join my crew now?"_

_Ace didn't hesitate even for a second, "No thanks. I'm going to be the captain of my own pirate crew, not a member of my little brother's."_

_The younger of the two boys's smile disappeared at that and he began to pout. While the older walked up to the other two, so as to formally introduce himself. He shook hands with Zoro as he spoke, "Portgas D. Ace."_

_The green haired swordsman trainee gave his full name in return, "Roronoa Zoro."_

_And then with no warning, as he withdrew his hand from Ace's, Zoro's smile faded and he spoke up, "Luffy's told me how you're really strong...fight me."_

_Ace's eyes widened in surprise at the green haired boy's words. __The swordsman trainee even moved to pull out his wooden practice swords, and Ace eyes narrowed as he did, however before it could go any further than that the green haired boy was taken off his feet, being completely blindsided by the punch that ended up putting him on his ass._

_If Zoro didn't already know who the culprit was, which he did, being used to this kind of thing is why he knew, the person revealed themselves as they began to scream, "What the heck was that!? That's not how you greet someone you idiot! Especially your best friend's older brother! And on top of that you just met him, are you really that big of an insensitive jerk!?"_

_With her now shark like teeth protruding from her mouth, and her face wearing such an expression of agitated rage, both dark haired brothers couldn't help but shudder as they thought the same thing, "Scary..."_

_Zoro was about to voice a comeback, but Nami completely ignored him as her entire face went back to normal as she turned to Ace and spoke, chuckling nervously as she did. "Don't mind him, he's just an idiot. Anyway, as Luffy said, I'm Nami, it's nice to meet you Ace."_

_Ace couldn't help but sweat drop, "Did Luffy really have to develop a crush on such a crazy girl...?"_

_Before Ace could reply to the young girl, Zoro was back on his feet and proceeded to lock her in a head lock. She struggled, however no matter how much she did so the young green haired boy refused to loosen his grip. Instead of being worried or apologetic like most people would in her situation, Nami merely bared those sharp teeth again and proceeded to threaten Zoro with bodily harm._

_While this also took Ace by surprise, they were Luffy's friends, so he knew he should have expected them to be a little crazy. With that thought he brushed the whole situation off by indicating he had to leave. "I've gotta get going now, I'll see you guys when I see you."_

_Luffy whined at those words, "You've gotta go already? Where do you even go and why are you always there instead of here in the village?"_

_Ace just kept walking as he replied, not even bothering to turn and face his younger brother. "I'll tell you...eventually."_

_Once Ace was out of earshot Luffy sighed, before sticking his tongue out at his brother's retreating form. "And that's my brother, the big jerk."_

_However his two friends were too busy wrestling on the ground at the moment to notice the exchange. As soon as Nami had managed to wiggle out of Zoro's hold they began to fight like the children they were, which was what they were currently doing as they tried to pin each other on the ground._

* * *

As for what these children were currently up to, they were all semi deep inside the forest outside of Fusha village, on Mount Corvo, Nojiko was also with them. And then there was what they were doing...

Nami ran and ran, but no matter how fast she went, she just couldn't manage to give her pursuer the slip. Or to be more exact, she couldn't escape from his grasp.

The young orange haired girl giggled continuously as she continued to evade Luffy's arms as he stretched them out to get her, although it wasn't an easy task to keep away from them, even if the young black haired boy barely knew how to use his new ability.

A couple of days ago Nami, Nojiko, Zoro and Luffy had decided to play around with his new ability, and they quickly came up with a game of stretch tag. Luffy had to stand in one spot, and he wasn't allowed to move from it at all, then he would stretch his arms out and try and get a hold of one of the other three. As of yet he hadn't caught a single one of them, however as his arms closed in on Nami, that would change in a matter of moments. Just not how you would expect...

Nami continued to run from Luffy's arms, even as they ever so slowly closed the distance between them and her. The young navigator to be knew that she had to do something fast if she didn't want to get caught. And as she neared Zoro she knew exactly what it was that she needed to do.

As Luffy's arms and Nami got closer and closer to him, Zoro could no longer be at a standstill like he had been for a little while now. So he turned and began to run in the opposite direction of where they were coming from. But with Nami already moving at her top speed, the young orange haired girl managed to catch up with Zoro, before unceremoniously and violently shoving him to the side, with such force that it caused him to hit the ground, which also left him dead in the water with no way to get away as Luffy's arms encircled him and announced that he was out.

Zoro would normally get up in Nami's face because of something like that, but today had been a good day, so he was doing his best to not get into an argument with her. That of course didn't stop him from muttering to himself as he got to his feet, "Damn evil girl..."

Luffy didn't waste anytime and quickly extracted his arms from Zoro, before sending them after Nami once more. However she had a good lead now, so as they drew closer to Nojiko, who was hiding behind a tree, the straw hat wearing boy decided to switch targets. The young blue haired girl realized this quickly, but by the time she was actually moving so as to run away, the black haired boy's outstretched hands patted her on each shoulder, letting her know she was out. So she merely sighed in defeat before taking a seat right there where she had been standing.

Although he had gotten two out of three of them out, he had also lost track of Nami. She could be hiding behind a tree, a bush, or she might have gotten behind him, whatever the case was it was going to be harder to end the game now. Yet, after almost two whole minutes of looking for her, while not actually moving from his spot, his stretched out arms going to every place he looked barred from that, he could not find her. So with a heavy sigh of defeat, he called out to his sneaky friend, "Okay Nami, you win."

The young boy then began to retract his arms, but because he didn't have too much control over his ability, he ended up pulling them in too fast, so by the time they reached him they had gathered enough speed and force to knock him straight to the ground, making him give a mildly surprised yelp as he landed on his back. The black haired boy quickly sat up, Zoro and Nojiko making their way towards him as he did, before he called to his orange haired friend once more, "Did you hear me Nami!? I said you win! Now come out so we can go play something else!"

No reply came for several long moments, so the three began to grow worried. Luffy got to his feet and looked around for a few moments, before deciding to go further in, Zoro and Nojiko following behind him as he did. "Nami!? Nami!? Where'd you go Nami!?"

The three slowly made their way further into the forest as the young rubber boy called for the orange haired girl, but after a few attempts without success, her blue haired older sister began calling out as well, trying to keep herself from becoming frantic. "Nami! Where are you!? Nami!?"

Soon enough the three stumbled on a small clearing, not even big enough to put on a map, but large enough to hold around a dozen or so children. There they saw a tree stump, which Nami was tied to, and they also saw her captor standing beside her, who had his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, who appeared to be a kid not much older then them, wearing a large, fancy black hat with goggles on it and a fancy blue and black outfit to match. "You have to stay quiet! I can't let them find me!"

This boy's attention was quickly drawn to the three who were behind him, as two of them cried out...

"Hey, let go of Nami!"

"What do you think you're doing to my sister!?"

The boy's eyes were on them, so he wasn't looking at Nami, so he failed to notice as she opened her mouth, and proceeded to bite down on his hand as hard as she could. "OW!"

He quickly pulled his hand away, shaking it about in pain as he did, "You bit me!"

Judging by the look of anger and annoyance on her face, it was obvious that this kid didn't scare her, which put Nojiko somewhat at ease. "You tied me up!"

"You wouldn't keep quiet!"

"That doesn't give you the right to tie me up!"

"Shut up! You're too loud!"

"Your the one who's being loud!"

As the two bickered, the three others were able to see two more details of this kid's appearance, he had blonde hair and a missing tooth.

Luffy, not liking being ignored when he was telling someone to let go of his friend, wound his right arm back before shooting it forward, his arm stretching a few feet so as to allow his fist to connect with the blonde kid's face, knocking him to the ground and causing him to yelp in pain. "I said to let Nami go!"

This would have caused the straw hat wearing boy to seem somewhat threatening to the young blonde, and seem cool to anyone who had seen him hit him like that, however as his arm came racing back towards him and he ended up with his own fist in his face, knocking himself to the ground, yelping in surprise as he did, it ruined the effect and had him looking ridiculous. Zoro walked over to him after that and proceeded to help him to his feet.

Nojiko usually would have sighed and shook her head at the rubber boy, but she was too busy untying her sister at the moment to do that. Once the young orange haired girl was untied, her older sister locked her a tight hug, having been very worried for her safety.

The blonde boy was supporting himself on one elbow, using his right hand to rub the already forming bruise on his face, as he wondered to himself, "How the hell did he just do that? Did he eat a devil fruit? That's the only thing I can think of."

Before the young blonde could think any further on the subject, Nami stepped over him, grabbed a hold of the collar of his shirt with both hands, and began shaking him in an elevated position, which left him on the ground, but his upper half wasn't touching it. "You can't just go around restraining people, ya fricking jerk!"

Everyone's attention was quickly pulled to the right side of the small clearing, as someone entered it, "Hey Sabo, the coast is clear now, we can head ou-"

Ace stopped mid-sentence as he noticed all who was in the clearing, Zoro helping Luffy to his feet, and Nojiko watching as Nami violently shook Sabo by his shirt collar, chewing him out as she did. There were the beginnings of a bruise on his face as well. As the the nine year old black haired boy took this all in, there was complete silence in the clearing for several long moments, before he finally asked, "What the hell is going on here?"

As those words left Ace's mouth, Nami let go of Sabo's shirt collar and let his upper half fall to the ground, his head hitting it hard because of that. "Ow!"

Luffy, seemingly ignoring his older brother's question, smiled real big before saying, "Hi there Ace!"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	4. The Porchemy Incident

Lightningblade49: Yeah, pretty much. It's part of what I had intended for this story, and I can't wait to begin writing it.

bcgcdak: It's understandable that you'd be annoyed. He is one of the four emperors after all...he can literally eat a dozen sea kings for breakfast.

Hanashi: Yeah, I wouldn't exactly want to be Sabo at that point either. After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and that goes triple for Nami. XD

partner555: Yep, basically.

F-ckthesystem125: Glad you liked that scene. :)

demonfox2140: I'm flattered you like my story so much, thank you. As for Kuina's fate, well... as I said last chapter to bc, I can't tell you without giving away some things I don't want to reveal. All I can really say is that Kuina's fate will not be exactly the same as it was in the anime, as for the Kuina Tashigi thing, I still find it hard to believe their not the same person already, or at least related in some sort of way. I'm still expecting one day Oda will reveal that it's actually her, even if it already has been said that isn't the case. Mind you at this point I accept that their two different people, and think along those lines most of the time, however I would not object, hell I'd probably approve, if Tashigi did turn out to be Kuina.

On a completely unrelated note, I got to watch Film Z, English dub, since the last time I updated and damn was that a great movie. Anyone else seen it as of yet? Can't wait to do this story's version...though that's a long ways away...

Anyway enough of my rambling, here's the next chapter, so please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Luffy let out a loud yawn as he made his bed, one of the things he had to do regularly at Bellemere's. He had just gotten dressed for the day, but he was honestly still halfway between asleep and awake, even as he finished and prepared to exit his room. However he was soon broken out of his morning daze as Nami opened his door and he saw her smiling face. Just seeing her face made him happy these days, so most of the drowsiness he felt vanished as a large grin spread across his face and he chirped, "Hey there Nami."

The orange haired girl's smile got a little wider at his cheery demeanor, "Good morning Luffy. Bellemere's making breakfast, it should be done-"

The young straw hat wearing boy dashed out of the room at those words, leaving Nami standing in his doorway by herself, "-in a minute."

She stood there for a moment blinking before shaking her head in slight amusement, he loved Bellemere's cooking and since he had tasted it he came a running whenever it was meal time. The young girl fully entered his room and made her way over to his bed, before remaking it, doing so the right way, as her black haired friend had not. She had been doing this since he moved in, he was pretty bad at chores, so she helped him do basically everything, though he didn't know it most of the time. Sometimes it annoyed her just a bit, but she didn't let him know that either. Of course Nojiko and Bellemere also knew of this, though the latter didn't mention it, the former did so regularly, telling her younger sister that if she didn't let him do it himself he'd never learn. In response the six year old girl would shake her head and say, "The chance of Luffy ever learning to do chores the right way is about as small as Zoro's chance of getting a sense of direction, so I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing."

Once she was finished fixing his bed, she exited his room, closing the door behind her as she did of course, before making her way to the kitchen and sitting down next to Luffy at the table. Just as she did Bellemere served breakfast, Nojiko already being seated so everyone was at the table. The young straw hat wearing boy dug in immediately, saying thanks just before he did, and the ex-marine couldn't help but smile at him as he did. He usually said thanks with his mouthful, but after a couple dozen bops on the head, one for each time he did it, he was slowly starting to get it. It looked like today might be the first day he didn't talk with his mouthful at all, "Thris is freally good."

As Bellemre picked up her ladle and proceeded to bonk the only male in her house on the head with it, she couldn't help but think to herself, letting out a sigh as she did, "Scratch that, I was wrong."

"Srorry."

Bonk.

After the second hit Luffy stayed quiet for the rest of the meal.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro fist bumped as Nojiko closed the front door, and then the green haired boy exchanged his usual glare with Nami. The blue haired girl had seen this, and she couldn't help but sigh, "This is honestly getting ridiculous, it's the same thing with you two day in and day out. You two get along almost as perfectly as you could with Luffy, but you yourselves fight like cats and dogs, wet and starving cats and dogs."

The navigator to be was the first of the two to reply to her sister, "What do you expect? He's a big jerk with no sense of direction, he's dumb and he smells too, we couldn't be more different."

The swordsman trainee scoffed before saying, "You're right about that one, you're evil, weak, ugly, can't stop nagging, and are just about useless in every situation, we couldn't be more different from each other if we tried."

Nami's sharp teeth returned, a vein throbbing in anger and irritation on her forehead as she shook her fist at Zoro, "What'd you just say!?"

"You heard me."

Before a fight could break out between the two, it was Luffy who put a stop to it. "Come on guys, we're supposed to meet up with Ace and Sabo, we don't have time for your usual wrestling match."

The straw hat wearing boy grabbed both of his best friends by their wrists, before proceeding to lead them away from Bellemere's house and towards their meeting place where Sabo and Ace were surely waiting. And as he pulled them along, Nojiko stayed back for a few moments, laughing to herself about the situation, quickly following along after though.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Nojiko entered the same small clearing they had first met Sabo in. As they did Luffy let go of his two best friends wrists, and they huffed and looked away from each other, having been bickering the whole way there. Nojiko just rolled her eyes, thinking to herself, "Those two'll never stop fighting..."

That's when Ace and Sabo entered the small clear area, doing so from the opposite direction of Luffy's group. They walked over to the four until they were about five feet apart, which is where they came to a stop. The straw hat wearing boy smiled and greeted both older boys, Sabo smiled and returned his greeting, Zoro, Nojiko and Nami however didn't give any greetings, and before Ace could give his, as he was going to, the orange haired girl's eyes met the only blonde within the vicinity's. As they did a scowl graced her face for a moment, before she proceeded to stick her tongue out at him, which the best dressed of the six responded with an annoyed glare. This prompted an angry glare from the navigator to be, which got the same from the adventurer to be. And as they did what they did everyday, Nojiko couldn't help but sigh and face palm, "And then there's him, I swear if I didn't know any better I'd think she was just trying to find people to fight and bicker with."

The young blue haired girl couldn't exactly be blamed for being so annoyed at this, as it had been a little over two months, the exact count was sixty nine days, since the group of six had officially all met. While the eldest black haired boy had met Zoro and Nami, he hadn't met Nojiko, and then no one had met Sabo except for him, but now they all knew each other to some extent.

Luffy and Sabo got along very well, the two already getting near the point of becoming as close as the young black haired boy was with Ace, something Zoro and Nami had already accomplished. It could even be argued they were closer to Luffy than his older brother was, of course no was willing to, mainly because whoever did so in regards to it not being true would be pressed to prove it.

Zoro and Sabo were best described as acquaintances, as they never interacted unless it was through Luffy, though they did seem to have some sort of mutual respect between each other. Nojiko and Sabo could barely be described as that, as they barely interacted with each other unless the others were there and there was no avoiding it.

Nami and Sabo had a relationship almost exactly like the one she had with the green haired swordsman trainee, except there was never a moment where they would stop fighting, arguing, bickering and just plain old disagreeing, as the day they met had put them at odds and they have yet to work past that. Sabo had tried to apologize for what he had done, and at first it seemed like it would work, Nami was coming around as she found he was a pretty nice kid, but the moment he accidentally let it slip that if he hadn't done what he had done they'd both of ended up dead, it took a turn for the worse. From there they began bickering, and when the inevitable happened and they found out that both of them were trying to be good navigators, though that wasn't the blonde's dream and he was only doing it to help him achieve his actual goal, it made things even worse. So with Nami's stubborn personality, the two had come to develop a type of rivalry, though one without much of a friendly aspect to it.

Nojiko and Ace, now they had a bit of a complicated relationship. While Ace had grown softer over the years of knowing Luffy, he still had a bit of a temper, and he was just as blunt as his younger brother, he also had only a minimal amount of extra tact than him, and Nojiko, well she had a sharp tongue, a quick wit and sometimes a sarcastic way of speaking, and they ended up butting heads more often than not because of these traits of theirs. In fact their relationship was almost a complete mirror image of Nami's and Zoro's. except for the fact they fought more with words than their fists, and...well they might have mixed feelings about the one their fighting with, which the orange haired girl and green haired boy couldn't be farther from feeling.

Zoro and Ace tended to butt heads a lot...literally rather than figuratively. It wasn't that they hated one and other, or even that they disagreed all the time, it was primarily the fact that when they did argue, it turned physical quickly. Plus there was the fact that the swordsman trainee had a general dislike for the older black haired boy, which was born from Luffy's stories of him. The two things that got to the green haired boy more than anything else were people who were all bark and no bite, and people who were in any kind of way mean, cruel and or disparaging towards Luffy. While the straw hat wearing boy acted as if the things Ace had done to him when they were younger were nothing, that didn't mean they were nothing to Zoro. After all, breaking most of someone's bones just because they want to be your friend isn't even remotely a kind thing to do. However, the swordsman trainee also recognized the fact that Ace was much better than that now, and while he still had a small mean streak in him, he was starting to become a real big brother.

Nami and Ace didn't actually have much of a relationship, as most of the time the orange haired girl would give him the cold shoulder, because Zoro told her what he had done to Luffy when they were younger, except he didn't sugar coat it or laugh it over as if it was some joke like the straw hat wearing boy did. He did not hold a grudge, that however didn't mean Nami and Zoro didn't hold one for him. Though every now and then she would basically come out and tell the older black haired boy that she was glad he was being so nice to Luffy, at least compared to each day before the last. This was because he was steadily growing kinder and kinder, mostly in regards to his younger brother, but also in general.

Ace did not try to keep the look of annoyance off his face as he spoke, some anger in his tone as he did, "Would you two cut it out? I'm getting sick and tired of you two and your crap, we've got more important things to deal with, don't we Sabo?"

The young blonde snapped out of his glaring contest with the orange haired girl at those words, proceeding to give a sheepish smile afterwards as he said, "Yeah, sorry, you're right."

The eldest black haired boy nodded at that, before continuing, "Now what we had to tell you guys today, was that we found ourselves a stash of cash that could get us a great deal closer to getting those two pirate ships we need."

Those words got Luffy's, Zoro's, Nami's and Nojiko's complete undivided attention on Ace and Sabo, ready to listen to everything they had to say. Sabo was the one to speak next, "We've been saving up as much money as we could, stealing each and every berri we could get our hands on for over a year. Then you four began helping us two months ago, we did the stealing, you did any and all odd jobs you could come across so as to help us reach an amount that could buy us two ships, so that we can set off once we're old enough. One Ace would captain, the other Luffy would captain, and going in we all knew it'd cost a large sum to purchase them, but according to some brokers in the city, we're only halfway...to buying a single ship. However with this new plan of ours, we could acquire enough berris to put us at the halfway point for the second ship, tripling our total amount of cash in one swoop."

Ace picked up after that, "There's only one problem, we're gonna have to steal it from Bluejam and his crew."

Both Nojiko's and Nami's eyes widened real wide at those words, before they could say anything though, the black haired nine year old finished his statement, "And for the plan to work all six of us will have to work it together."

Noticing the sudden tension, Zoro quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Who the hell is Bluejam, and why are you four so worried about him?"

Nami looked at the green haired boy as if he was stupid, remarking in her head that he actually was, speaking as she did, "You want to be a pirate and you don't know who Bluejam is? He's pretty known in this region of the east blue, and he's very well known on this island. Back on our island we had only heard a rumor or two, but here everyone talks about him, speaking in hushed whispers, worried for their lives. You've got to be a moron to live on this island and not know who he is."

Zoro was quick to retort, "No, you have to be a moron to be worried about some dumb ass named Bluejam."

That's when all eyes went to Luffy, the young straw hat wearing boy picking his nose with his little finger, looking completely bored and wholly uninterested as he said, "What kind of idiot calls themselves Bluejam?"

The swordsman trainee gestured to his best friend as he spoke, "There, see? Proves my point."

Nami face palmed, groaning in annoyance as she did, "No, that just proves that you're both stupid."

Nojiko then continued where her little sister left off, "Bluejam and his crew are the poster boys for pirates. Their ruthless and vile, greedy and arrogant, brutish and nasty, they are everything pirates stand for and aspire to be."

Luffy's whole demeanor changed at that, removing his finger from his nose, he proceeded to vehemently object to the blue haired girl's words, "No way! True pirates stand for the love of adventure, and being able to do anything you want, whenever you want, because you're free!"

The eight year old girl snorted in amusement at that, replying quite sarcastically, "Yeah right, that's why the world is filled with tales of pirates saving people and fighting monsters, their real heroes alright."

Luffy huffed and crossed his arms as he replied, "That's not what I said, pirates aren't heroes at all. Their adventure loving, free men. I want to be a pirate, not a hero, because then I'd have follow all the rules and share all my meat, and I want all the meat for myself."

Zoro, Ace and Sabo closed their eyes and nodded in complete unison with Luffy's words, doing so with absolute certainty in the fact that those words were sagely, showing their agreement by speaking in unison, "That's right."

Nojiko and Nami both rolled their eyes at the four boys, thinking their thinking ridiculous. The blue haired girl decided to just move past that point, "Regardless of who's right and who's not, stealing money from Bluejam is just plain crazy. He'll kill us without so much as a second thought."

The eldest black haired boy was the one to respond to that, "So? We're all going to have to learn to deal with that since we're going to become pirates. The only person here who isn't dead set on doing so is you, you stated that you wouldn't become a pirate, even if it was one that wasn't cruel and selfish. And yet you've been helping us gather the cash we need, exactly why is that?"

The eight year old girl scowled at the nine year old boy, but answered him nevertheless, "Because my little sister here is determined to follow your little brother to the ends of the earth because of her infatuation with him. And since she's stubborn and won't be swayed, I've no choice but to help her out as much as I possibly can, so as to insure she'll be okay when she finally does become a pirate."

The young orange haired girl couldn't help it as her face turned a dark shade of red, blushing greatly because of her older sister's words, Luffy on the other hand was scratching his head in confusion. The black haired boy turned to his green haired friend and proceeded to ask, "Zoro, what does infatuation mean?"

The swordsman trainee shrugged at that, "Something about a large amount of attention, or affection, or something like that."

Nami's face was red as tomato from embarrassment, even so it was still easy to tell she was mad, as the glare she gave her sister was proof enough, "Nojiko, you're lucky Zoro's so stupid and that Luffy doesn't know what you're talking about, otherwise I'd tear your hair out."

The blue haired girl gave a wry smile at that, liking the feeling of messing with her younger sister.

That's of course when Sabo tried to explain the word to his younger friend, "Well Luffy you see, if someone has an infatuation with someone else, it means that-"

Before the young blonde could finish his explanation, Nami had closed the distance between them and slapped her left hand over his mouth, keeping it there as he tried to speak, muffling his words and rendering them useless in the way of helping someone understand something. She was boring holes into his head with her eyes as she said, "If you finish that sentence, I swear I'll-"

The young orange haired girl was then cut off as Ace pulled her from Sabo, and then got everyone's attention once more by speaking, "That's enough! We need to focus on the task at hand, no more bickering, no more fighting and no more smart remarks, we have to go and get this done. We have less than three hours before Bluejam comes to pick up the case of berris that we're looking to get our hands on, so we need to get a move on, that way we have enough time to get in, get out, stash the cash and get back here before anyone's the wiser."

It took a moment, but with that being said everyone got serious, nodding their heads in affirmation. "Good. Now then, let's get going."

Ace and Sabo then led Luffy and his friends deeper into the forest of Mount Corvo.

* * *

Soon enough they came to a cliff, which looked out upon a massive junkyard piled as high as it could be with all sorts of garbage, ranging from half eaten food, rotted wood, used utensils, cups, and all manner of dishware, as well as rusted metal, unneeded trinkets, broken guns and swords, any and every kind of trash you could possibly imagine was piled up here. This place was known as the Grey Terminal, past it lie the great gate of Goa, which led into Goa, the kingdom of Dawn Island, and this city that was surrounded by tall walls, it was also where the six children needed to go. More specifically they were heading to edge town, the seedy and run down part of the city, where all the criminals and the people who could barely get by lived. Of course it was better than most got, as half the population was forced to live outside the walls of Goa, stuck inside the dirty and nasty Gray Terminal. All six kids knew this well, Ace and Sabo better than the others of course. Sabo had also explained to them to never look anyone in the eye and to just keep moving, which during the first time they had come here they had done successfully.

As they made their way down the face of the cliff, slowly and carefully, they reminded themselves of that day. They had to keep their heads down and their ears open until they were back at Fusha village, because edge town was even worse than gray terminal, at least when it came to crime that is. They were also planning on trying their best to keep low profiles, that way it was impossible for anyone to find out that they were the ones that were about to steal Bluejam's money. Once they were finished descending the cliff face and made their way into the gigantic trash heap, that's exactly what they did. They didn't draw any attention to themselves once so ever, getting through the junkyard and into edge town without so much as a second glance from anyone, which couldn't be said for the first time they had tried to get through the gray terminal unnoticed.

While they had indeed kept themselves from looking anyone in the eye and had tried to keep moving that first time, they were stopped a few times, once by a drunk man, another time by someone who was too interested in the fact that they were children to be safe to be around, and one more who specifically wanted to speak to Sabo, something or other about a shack that got torn down. But this was beside the point, as this time they had succeeded completely, and were now one step closer to pulling off their little heist.

Now inside of Edge Town, the two eldest led the other four into the system of back alleys they knew how to navigate best. Using these alleyways the six moved from the great gate of Goa into the deepest part of this shady section of the city, it taking them less than twenty minutes to do so. And from there it only took another minute or so to locate the very building that Bluejam and his crew were currently using as a temporary base of operations, it was a warehouse. However instead of getting too close, they cut through another alley beside a building that was across from the warehouse, which allowed them a vantage point of the building, so they could examine it without being spotted, so long as they didn't poke more than their head out of the cover of the building that is.

At first glance they saw three of the Bluejam pirates guarding the front door, and one on either side of the building, making five in total. So they pulled their heads back so they were no longer exposed, and as they did Zoro scoffed, "Only five? This barely calls for two of us, so long as Nami isn't picked of course."

Nojiko then had to hold her sister back, so as to keep her from pouncing on Zoro, starting a fight and blowing their cover.

Ace shook his head at the green haired eight year old's words, "No, there are three more in the back. We've been staking this place out for a week now, so I know for a fact that they always have two guys guarding the back entrance. Then there's the inside of the building. We're not sure what they have hiding in there, but we never see more than one or two of them come and go at a time."

Sabo nodded his head in affirmation, "That's right, and going by that, it's safe to assume that they never have more than four of their guys guarding the case at once."

Nojiko then asked, "How can you be so sure? I mean Ace said so himself, you guys have never been inside of that place, so how could you possibly know that?"

As the blue haired eight year old asked this, she was still holding her sister back from trying to clobber Zoro, who was currently picking his left ear while staring at her with an almost bored expression on his face, which just managed to egg the orange haired girl on further.

"It's only speculation...or rather, an assumption, we simply figured they'd need two guys to guard it minimum. One to keep an eye on the case, the other to keep an eye on the first guy, so as to make sure he didn't take off with it. And they wouldn't be stupid enough to leave the case completely unattended, no matter the time of the day, so that means there has to be at least two guys guarding it at all times. Which means since we only see one or two guys come and go at a time, it's safe to assume that there's never more than four guys in that warehouse of theirs, at least it is when Bluejam's not here in town."

While scratching his head in confusion over what Sabo had just said, Luffy turned to Zoro and asked, "Any idea what he's talking about?"

The swordsman trainee simply shrugged, "Not really. All I understood was that there are eight guys guarding the outside, and a couple guarding the inside."

The young straw hat wearing boy allowed an annoyed expression to encompass his face for a moment, "I got that, I was asking if you knew what else he was saying."

Once more he just shrugged, causing the dark haired six year old to sigh.

Nojiko on the other hand understood what he had said, and wasn't pleased by his words, so as loud as she could be with whispering, she spoke, "You mean this whole plan is based entirely around a guess!? You have got to be kidding me! You're gonna get us all killed!"

Nami, who had been let go of by her older sister a moment ago, was going to agree, but before she could do so, Ace interrupted, "Just calm down, everything's gonna be fine. Sabo's smart, the smartest person I've ever met in fact, and I trust him not to get us killed. Just don't be stupid, and this will all go according to plan."

Nojiko wanted to protest further, but Ace and Sabo both left their crouching positions, since they had all been doing so, and prepared to make their move, the black haired one of them saying this as he did, "Some of them are changing positions, get ready to move."

Poking their heads out once more, the four younger children saw that a couple more of Bluejam's crew had arrived and were indeed relieving their fellow crewmen. So they all got ready. As they all had went over the plan a few times on the way here, they all knew what was needed of them, some of them to a greater extent then others, but that was beside the point.

Once they had been relieved, the pirates who had been on watch didn't take more than a moment or so to be on their way, so as to go and enjoy themselves, rest or whatever else they wanted and or needed to do. The six kids waited until the relieved pirates were a reasonable distance away, before they set their plan in motion. When they had reached that reasonable distance from the warehouse, Ace signaled for the plan to start, "Alright...go!"

Ace jumped from his place of hiding, before rushing straight down the middle of the dirty street that led to the warehouse, heading directly for the front of the building, drawing the three Bluejam crewmen who guarded the front entrance's attention immediately. Seeing him brought scowls to their faces, showing they knew him, and that was confirmed as the nine year old came to a stop about eight feet from them, and with an air of cockiness that only he could exude in this situation, he began to taunt the grown men, "Remember me losers? It was easier than I'd thought it'd be giving you guys the slip a couple of months ago, guess that means you're even more pathetic than I thought you were!"

"Did he just say what I think he said!?"

"How dare that little punk insult us!"

"Get him!"

As the three moved to get him, Ace made a quick left and took off running down the street, getting them to follow him as they did, leading them away from the warehouse. As he continued to sprint down the street, he turned his head to look back at them and taunted them once more, just for good measure. "Come and get me you bastards!"

* * *

Sabo went to the right instead of the left, entering another back alley, where he proceeded to rush down it, until he met a dead end, where he made a quick left and began dashing down that alleyway. Because he was running as fast as he could, he reached the back of the warehouse rather quick considering how he went around, and when he did he forced himself to come to a stop, almost stumbling past the three guards who were at the back entrance as he did so.

Their eyes were on him, mean looks on their faces, trying to intimidate him. He however merely turned to face them, gave them a smile and a wave as he said, "Hey there, you guys remember me?"

At that their full attention was solely on him, as they did finally recognize him, and they became quite angry, as he had led them on quite the chase a little over two months ago. "It's him!"

"That little brat had us running about all over the place trying to catch him!"

"Well now we've got him!"

As they moved to grab him, Sabo raced past them through one of the alleys of the warehouse, barely avoiding the guard there as he did so. He would have chased after him as well, but the three currently on his tail bowled the guy over in their pursuit of him.

The blonde nine year old led them out to the front of the warehouse, and down the main street, which led to and away from the front entrance of said building. And just to make sure they continued to follow him, he turned his head back so as to look at them and said, "Catch me if you can!"

* * *

Nojiko waited until Sabo and his three pursuers passed her, before running down the street to the front of building they were trying to get into, where she could see both of the guards that were left. The one in the left alley was at the end of it closest to her, looking out to his right, her left, as that was the way he saw a kid being chased by some of his fellow crewmen. The one in the right alley was currently in the middle of getting to his feet, as he had just been knocked over.

Thinking quickly, the blue haired girl picked up a rock that was about half the size of her hand, and chucked it at the guy looking away from the building he was supposed to be guarding. It just barely managed to hit him in the head, but he winced and cursed in pain nevertheless, before noticing who had thrown said rock and letting a look of anger cover his face. Knowing that he was guaranteed to follow her, she took the right alleyway of the building, came to the guy who was just about on his feet, except that he was bent over at the waist, and kicked him as hard as she could in the face, since it had been lower to the ground with him in a bent over position, causing him to stumble because of the pain and surprise, as well as swear in pain.

She then rushed passed him to the back of the warehouse, before turning to see both of the outside guards now standing next to each other, wondering what the hell had happened to each other, since one had a bruise on their head, and the other had a bloody nose, when she got their attention by calling out to them, "Hey morons, over here!"

Both recognizing her immediately, they said in unison, "That's the girl!"

As they came running towards her, she went to her left, their right, back into the same alley system Ace and Sabo had led everyone in. They of course chased after her, which meant they were soon running through back alley after back alley trying to get ahold of the blue haired girl.

* * *

Luffy, Zoro and Nami stayed in hiding until they saw Nojiko run past them, doing so from their right, with two men following her. That was their cue, so they too left the original hiding spot they had all shared and approached the warehouse. They stood at the front entrance for only a moment, before all sharing looks between one and other, they began their part in the plan after doing so. So the two boys stayed at the front entrance, while the girl circled around to the back and prepared to enter from that doorway.

The black and green haired kids then burst into the building, calling out as they did, drawing all attention to them so as to allow their orange haired friend to slip in the back. Having busted in like that, it took the two a moment to realize it, but Sabo had been absolutely correct, as there were exactly four Bluejam pirates in the building. Judging by the fact that their were chairs by each of them, it was an obvious conclusion that they had all been sitting before the two children had suddenly came in, taking them by surprise with the door slamming into the wall and the two screaming something about bringing it on.

Both Zoro and Luffy could see a large metallic case on the table that the four men stood around, and beyond that, they saw that Nami had successfully snuck in while they caused all that noise by slamming the door into the wall and shouting, but now they had to get these guys away from the case and keep them busy, so their orange haired friend could get the case and get a safe distance away before anyone noticed her presence. So, being the big mouthed children that they were, the two began to goad the grown men into attacking them.

First they knocked over a shelf that was in the building, it of course fell towards them, so they all moved out of the way, forgetting the case in the process. It slammed onto the table, causing it's legs to collapse beneath it. And, thinking they hadn't gone far enough, the two spoke up...

Zoro, "Hey weaklings! Come and fight us, unless you're too scared you'll get beat by a couple of kids!"

Luffy, "Yeah! What are you, chicken!? Bring it on!"

The biggest of the men was the one to say anything about that, "I don't know who these kids are, but I already hate them! You're dead brats!"

His three friends seemed to agree with him, as they all chased the two outside of the building into the streets.

Now that the coast was clear, Nami could now grab the case without fear of getting caught...at least imminently that is.

She came to the collapsed table that lie underneath a heavy wooden shelf, said shelf also being on top of the case, which posed a problem. Despite that, the young child bent her knees, grabbed ahold of the shelf and began trying to lift it, hoping it would budge at least enough for her to push the case with her foot so it would be away from said wooden construct. However, as she honestly knew would happen, it didn't budge an inch. Standing back up straight, the orange haired girl huffed and stamped her foot in frustration, "Dang it! Look what those two did! Now how am I supposed to get to it?"

After a few moments, she thought to herself, "Well, it couldn't hurt."

So she put her arm through the space of one part of the shelf and another part, slipping it through and placing her hand on the case. It took several tries, but she was able to grab a hold of the handle, and began trying to pull it out through the space between one board of the shelf and another board of said wooden item holder. It was a big case, so she slipped her other arm through to help. The case got caught against another board, but after a few tugs it came loose and out of the space, allowing the six year old to pull it out altogether.

Despite one of the boards scraping against her left arm and bringing a bit of blood, Nami couldn't help but blink repeatedly in surprise as she stared at the case she now held in her arms. "Huh...that was so much easier than I'd thought it'd be."

* * *

Nami hustled out of the warehouse after that, coming out to the front and moving back to everyone's original hiding spot, behind the building across from the one they just robbed.

Only a few moments passed before Ace showed up, a foot long pipe in his possession, which had just a bit of blood on it. "You got it? Good."

The nine year old then took a quick look around, "Where's everyone else?"

Before the orange haired girl could answer, Luffy and Zoro showed up, both panting a bit. The only one of them wearing a straw hat then smiled, before saying, "We gave them the slip."

His older brother smiled in return, but as he was going to speak, Nojiko came around the corner from the alleyways. "I managed to lose them in the alley system you used to get us here."

Ace nodded his head at the blue haired girl's words, "Now then, we just have to find Sabo and we can get out of here."

"No need."

All five of the children's heads snapped in the direction that voice came from, to see a large, brutish, hulking man, with long whitish blue hair and, one of his more distinct features, that he had no eyebrows to speak of. He was standing in the middle of the street leading to the warehouse, three more of his crewmen standing behind him, and he also held a bruised and slightly bloody, as well as unconscious Sabo by his collar, with only one hand as it was all he needed, as his hands were each around half the size of the children themselves. "I've got him right here."

A scowl crossed the eldest black haired boy's face, "Shit, it's Porchemy."

No questions were asked amongst the young children, as they were able to understand the situation well enough without anything else being said. Seeing the distressed looks on all of their faces didn't do anything to lighten the huge angry man's mood, as he was downright pissed. Ace of course knew how bad that meant the situation was, and seeing as how badly they needed that money..., "Nojiko, Nami, take the case and run!"

The blue haired girl looked ready to comply, but her orange haired sister protested, "We can't just leave you guys!"

Luffy and Zoro then both looked back at her, while the green haired boy's eyes said what needed to be said, the black haired boy used his words, "Do what Ace says and go Nami!"

"Their right Nami, we have to go!"

In what most would call a growl, Porchemy interrupted with, "You girls aren't going anywhere with that case!"

All three of the boys turned to the large pirate and his three friends, before lunging towards them, crying out together, "Yes they are!"

As the three began to fight the grown men, Nojiko forced Nami along despite her protests, so they could escape.

* * *

Luffy kept fighting even after his brother and best friend were knocked unconscious, he kept fighting even as they snatched him up and carried him away along with the other three unconscious boys, and even now he continued to struggle, until Porchemy had had enough, and strung him up to a support beam of the old, almost decrepit wooden building they were now in. As that was the case, he could no longer move his arms, and was now suspended several feet up in the air, he continued to kick his legs though.

That didn't bother the brutish man all that much, though that could be because he was currently tying the other three unconscious boys up as well, he didn't suspend them in the air though, he just tied them up to some support beams that connected to the floor, rather than the one that went from one side of the building to the other like with Luffy. Just as he finished doing that, six more of his fellow crewmen entered the medium sized wooden structure, looking almost fearful as they approached Porchemy.

When he noticed their presence, he turned to them and spoke, "Did you find the girls with the case?"

The bravest of the six was the one to reply, "No Sir, I'm sorry, they managed to get away."

Grunting in dissatisfaction, the burly man then asked, "They escaped the city then?"

Once again it was up to the same man out of the six to speak, "I-I'm not sure Sir, they gave us the slip awhile ago, we've been trying to track them down."

"So they could be anywhere then!?"

"Y-yes S-sir."

It was quite obvious that Porchemy was now beyond just angry, however instead of lashing out at one of his fellow crewmen, he turned to them and gave them a firm order, in the form of a shout, "All of you, get out there and find them, now!"

The three that had been with him, who were all injured in someway because of the three boys's tenacity, and the six that had just returned quickly all gave a yes sir and scrambled out of the building, fearing for their safety as they did.

The large muscular man huffed in anger and annoyance, before turning to the only boy who was conscious in the room, who was still kicking and trying to wiggle his way out of his rope binding, to no avail of course. He took a few steps towards him and spoke, "You, you know where they are, don't you?"

Luffy stopped squirming long enough to glare at the man and say, "No I don't! And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"

Porchemy growled at the boy, before replying with, "We'll see about that, now won't we!?"

The long haired man then turned and walked off, stopping at a shelf full of weapons he began to look over a few of them, speaking as he did so, "I already know from our little scuffle a couple minutes ago that physical blows don't work on you. I'm guessing you ate some kind of devil fruit, though I don't care which one."

Finally deciding on a method of attack, the hulking man grabbed a pair of spiked gloves that were his size and proceeded to slip them on, talking to his soon to be torture victim as he did so, "However I did notice that when one of the guys pulled a knife, you did everything you could to keep away from it. So I'm guessing anything and everything sharp is your weakness, and since that's the case..."

Now within the reach of the child once more, he cocked his right arm back, preparing to deliver a heavy blow, "...this should hurt-"

Shooting his arm forward, he rammed his spiked fist into the side of Luffy's face, piercing his flesh in a multitude of spots, as well as tearing a bit of his flesh open, and causing him to scream at the top of his lungs in agony, as well as swing to the right and back again because of how he was strung up. "-like a motherfucker!"

All three unconscious boys woke with a start at Luffy's scream, and when they saw his state, and the blood on Porchemy's right spiked fist, their eyes grew wide with shock and disbelief. And as the large long haired man hit him a second time, causing him to cry out at the top of his lungs once more because of how severe the pain was.

Porchemy then began to pound on the defenseless six year old relentlessly, hitting him with those spiked gloves of his over, and over, and over, and over again.

* * *

Nami and Nojiko had slipped inside of an old medium sized wooden building, allowing their pursuers to run past them. However they weren't even close to being out of the woods yet, as they heard some of them double back, and they were coming towards the front doors. So, acting quickly, the two young girls hid inside of an old and musty wooden closet, taking the case of berris with them of course, leaving the door of it cracked just enough to allow them to see out of it. Though they couldn't see the whole room, they could see a bit, and because of that they were able to know when the men who were looking for them left. They took a moment to catch their breath, before exiting the closet.

The two then headed to the back door and peaked out, however those guys were running about all over the place looking for them, so that way was a no go. So they turned and headed back for the way they came in, but only a step out the building and they saw that big brute heading their way. Because of that, they went back inside and tucked themselves back into the old musty closet, as despite it's stench it wasn't a bad hiding place.

From there they watched as Porchemy came in, tied the four boys up, his crewmen came in and left once more to find them, and he went to the weapon shelf. As he talked, the orange haired one of the girls couldn't take her eyes of Luffy, who they had a perfect view of from their hiding spot, as she felt worry fill her over his well being. And as the seconds passed, her concern for him quickly began to gnaw away at her.

As Porchemy came into view with those spiked gloves of his, the six year old girl felt fear consume her, and when his fist connected with Luffy's face, and he screamed like that, her eyes went wide with horror, just as Nojiko's did. She had involuntarily dropped the case as she gasped at the scene before her, but all the noise covered the sound of it hitting the bottom of the closet.

From that point on she was in a trance like state of shock, disbelief and horror, until the burly man hit Luffy once more, causing him to cry out again, which snapped her out of it. Tears welling up in her eyes, she opened her mouth to call out, just as she prepared to exit the closet, as she would not allow this to happen to her best friend in the whole world, not for money or her own safety, as neither were worth it to her. However before she could, Nojiko wrapped her left arm around her and pulled her close, and used her right hand to cover her mouth, so as to muffle any noise she might make, which combined with all the noise would keep them hidden.

Nami immediately knew what her sister was doing, she was keeping her in the closet, she was keeping her from saving Luffy, and she also knew why. Nevertheless, the orange haired six year old began to struggle as if her very life depended on it, and while it was very difficult for her, the blue haired eight year old managed to keep her sister restrained and from alerting the huge guy to their presence.

With tears in her eyes, she leaned forward to whisper into her little sister's ear, "I'm sorry, so sorry, but I can't let you go out there. He'll kill you, and I refuse to let anything bad happen to you."

The young girl continued to struggle, but no amount of time changed the fact that her sister was older and stronger at that current moment in time. And as she continuously tried and tried to break free from her sister's grasp, she was forced to watch as Porchemy ruthlessly beat the hell out of Luffy, filling him full of holes with every punch, bringing more and more blood from his tiny body to run down and drip off of him.

As this vile act went on, the other three boys kept yelling and crying out, sometimes begging, sometimes demanding, but every time was about getting him to stop hurting Luffy. However it mattered not, not only because he didn't care, but also because the young straw hat wearing boy was screaming bloody murder with every blow, effectively drowning the other boys out.

After a little over twenty blows, the dark haired six year old's eyes lazily landed on the old wooden closet, as he was doing anything he could to try and keep himself from focusing on the pain. And as they did, he saw through the crack and his eyes locked with Nami's own, causing the black haired kid's eyes to widen to the fullest extent as he realized the very reason he was being beaten like this was in the room.

Both Nami and Nojiko realized he saw them, and as they did, they both wished...

Nojiko, "Please don't tell him, please don't put my sister in danger!"

Nami, "Tell him Luffy, tell him where we are! Don't let yourself get killed over some stupid money!"

* * *

Luffy's mind was racing once he realized Nami was in here, that not even twenty feet separated them, and that she had the case of berris, and if she were found out, Porchemy would hurt her, probably even worse than he was doing to him. "I can't let him find out Nami's in here, he'll hurt her, he'll kill her, and I can't let that happen! I have to keep his attention on me, no matter what!"

The young boy's thoughts were interrupted by the words of the very man who was causing him so much agony, "Don't you get it boy? All you have to do is tell me where those girls are, and the pain will stop. Hell, if you tell me right now, I'll even spare your life."

As a look of determination appeared on his blood and tear stained face, Luffy stared the large man down and spoke, "I won't ever tell! I'll never give my friends up, ever!"

This just served to piss the man off further, and he began to beat him once more, even more ferociously than last time in fact.

* * *

Nami began to cry even harder as Porchemy went to town even harder on her best friend, "Why!? Why Luffy!? He's going to kill you! You're going to die! Just tell him, please, please, just tell him, I can't take this anymore!"

Nojiko was honestly shocked, she hadn't expected that, not even a little bit. Before she could think about the boy's actions though, her attention was once more on her little sister, as despite the hand over her mouth, she began to cry out. "Make it stop, make it stop, somebody please make it stop! Someone make him stop!"

* * *

The ferocious and merciless beating lasted for god knows how long, before finally Porchemy stopped for a moment for a breather. As he did, he saw the other boys out of the corner of his eye, all of them had tear stained faces as they had been crying the entire time. And as they noticed just a flicker of Porchemy's attention on them, they cried out.

Ace, "I'm gonna get you for this you sunuva bitch!"

Sabo, "Get away from him you bastard!"

Zoro, "When I get free, I'm going to kill you!"

Not wasting any more of his attention on them, his eyes went back to the limp form of Luffy, who was absolutely bathed in his own blood. "How about it kid? Last chance to tell me where those girls are."

His throat was raw and sore from all the screaming, so his voice was extremely hoarse and hard to hear, but the young dark haired boy responded with, "I'd...rather...die."

Sighing loudly, the long haired large man said in return, "Alright then, have it your way."

With that he removed the gloves as he walked away, taking them back to the weapon shelf and placing them back where they once were, which would cause some of the blood that covered them to drip onto some of the other objects. He then picked up a large cutlass, before turning back and walking to Luffy once more, where he prepared to strike him down with said blade, "Time to die kid!"

Just before he could go through with it, Nami and Nojiko tumbled out of the closet, courtesy of the younger girl finally getting the best of her older sister, hitting the floor and causing the case of berris to slide across the floor as they did. And as they hit the ground, Nami called out as loud as she could, "No, Luffy!"

Because of this everyone's attention was on them, but only for a second, as only a moment later the loud bang of a gunshot rang through the building, and Porchemy cried out in pain as he collapsed, drawing everyone's attention to him and the direction the gunshot came from, over to the right, from the front entrance.

Standing there, a rifle with a smoking barrel in her hands, was none other than Bellemere, wearing a pair of black jeans and a white short sleeve button up shirt, the look of a stone cold killer on her face.

Everyone was shocked into silence at the scene before them, everyone but Porchemy that is, who was now on his knees, despite one of them literally being blown out by a gunshot, causing him to bleed all over the floor. "Who the hell are you!?"

Instead of answering, the red haired woman instead quickly made her way towards the man, and as she did he picked his cutlass back up, as he had dropped it when he hit the ground, and began to get to his feet. "If you think you can just burst in here and butt into Bluejam pirate business, then you've got another thing coming you cun-"

Just before he could finish that sentence, Bellemere kicked him dead in his chest, knocking him back onto his back onto the floor, and not giving him time to say anything else or try and get back up, she stepped over him, leveled her rifle with his head and pulled the trigger once more, blowing his brains out and splattering them all over the floor.

She then proceeded to stand there over Porchemy's now lifeless body for a moment or so, not so much as batting an eye, the look of a killer still carved onto her face, until she heard her youngest daughter cry out once more, "Luffy!"

That snapped the former marine out of her killer state, causing that look on her face to vanish. She then quickly droped her rifle and picked up the cutlass the bastard had dropped, and cut Luffy down, catching him as she did so, before gently lying him down on the ground with Nami, while she went to untie the other three boys.

Nami was crying her eyes out over the half conscious black haired boy, as she asked him what she hadn't been able to answer herself, "Why...why Luffy? Why wouldn't you tell him where we were? He could have killed you...he could have killed you! Why would you endure all that? For that dumb money, for that stupid ship you want so much, their not worth your life you idiot! why Luffy, you have to tell me why!"

Through half lidded eyes, the dark haired boy locked eyes with the orange haired girl, as he reached across from himself and grabbed ahold of his straw hat, which had been knocked off at some point, and proceeded to lift it into the air. "I did it..."

He then, as gently as he could in his state, placed the hat on Nami's head, "...to keep you safe."

The six year old's eyes widened to the max as her heart sped up, "Luffy..."

A small smile made it's way across Luffy's face as he said, "I'd do anything...to protect you..."

And with that, the young rubber boy finally slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	5. The Strengthening Of Bonds

Hanashi o suru: You don't fuck with Bellemere's kids, ever. And seeing as how she's taken Luffy in, and how attached Nami is to him, that just made things worse. Porchemy picked the wrong kids to mess with.

F-ckthesystem125: Indeed she is. Thank you. And yes actually, she's in this chapter in fact.

Now then, here's the next chapter, so please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

It's been a little over a month since the Porchemy incident and despite the trauma inflicted all around that day, everything was just about back to normal. The only real changes were that Luffy and Nami now shared an even stronger bond, and they, along with Nojiko, were no longer allowed anywhere near Goa city. They didn't offer any resistance to that new rule, mainly because they had been lucky enough as it is, because if Nojiko hadn't told Bellemere that they had gone to Edge Town way back when they first tried to get through the Gray Terminal, then she wouldn't have come to check on them, or come all the way to town because she knew they would be there because they weren't anywhere else, and in turn they'd all be dead right now. Besides, not one of them was in a rush to go back to that place.

Despite the fact that everything was normal once more, none of the individuals involved in that day would ever forget it, for a multitude of reasons.

For Bellemere it was the day that she had seen a boy she had come to care for greatly nearly die, the day her daughters had been forced to watch as one of their friends was beaten nearly to death, and the day she was reminded of exactly why she had become a marine in the first place, to protect the innocent.

For Nojiko it was the day that she was shown just what pirates were capable of, the day that she saw just how much that little straw hat wearing boy would endure to keep her little sister safe, and the day that she realized just how important her family was to her.

For Sabo it was the day that he realized that, despite his personal experiences, that anyone could be a despicable, vile, and downright evil human being, the day that he realized just how tough Luffy was, and the day he realized just how much he cared for the straw hat wearing boy.

For Ace it was the day that he saw his own little brother all but murdered before his very eyes, the day that he realized just how fragile Luffy really was, and the day that a great protective instinct in him was awoken.

For Zoro it was the day that his best friend nearly sacrificed his own life to protect that damned girl, the day that he vowed he wouldn't ever let anyone harm his bumbling and innocent buddy ever again, and the day he found his true reason to grow stronger.

For Luffy it was the day that he realized how weak he was, despite the fact he couldn't come to grips with that, the day he realized that none of them stood an actual chance against real pirates, and the day that he realized he had to get much stronger if he wanted to protect those precious to him, let alone be able to survive with the kind of life he wanted.

For Nami it was the day that she watched as her best friend in the whole world was beaten to near death before her very eyes, simply to keep her safe, the day that she saw how brutal and vile pirates could be first hand, and the day that her feelings for Luffy began to evolve beyond that of friendship and infatuation.

* * *

The group of six was currently in the forest in the mountains once more, Luffy, Zoro, Ace and Sabo all training together, while Nami and Nojiko watched from where they sat under a tree. Since what happened back in Edge Town, the boys had agreed to begin training with each other on a regular basis, and on a much more frequent basis than Luffy and Zoro trained together, or Ace and Sabo trained together, that way they could all get stronger. This was the eighth training session this week, which spoke of how serious about this they were. They would have started this much sooner, but even though Luffy had healed well within about two weeks, Bellemere had insisted they wait at least a month before beginning such exercises, so they had as they feared her wrath.

The four boys continuously clashed in the fiercest battle they've had yet, a free for all with three different fighting styles, Luffy pounding the others with his fists, Zoro thwacking them with his bokken, and Ace as well as Sabo bludgeoning each other as well as the other two with foot long metal pipes. And as this training fight continued, it became obvious that while Luffy was very physically strong for his age, he was the worst fighter of the four, with Ace and Sabo tied for the best, and Zoro just on their heels.

This of course frustrated the young boy to no end, and that was made clear as his attacks grew sloppier and sloppier, as well as the fact that he became easier to read. Which just made it easier for the other three to land even more hits on him, causing him to nearly cry out in frustration. And he would have, except before he could, his eyes met Zoro's and for the first time, they were able to communicate with each other without so much as speaking a single word, as they came to an understanding with just their eyes.

So the youngest of the fighters calmed himself, before jumping back into the fray, watching Zoro intently as he did so. From doing this, he saw how the green haired swordsman trainee fought, and it helped the raven haired boy realize he was going about this all wrong. What that meant exactly was a bit of a mystery to him, so he bowed out from the battle for a moment, without actually doing so as he just stepped back, and watched all three of the other young combatants duke it out.

After observing them for a bit, he finally understood that he needed to hone his skills, he needed to refine his technique...more importantly he needed to come up with a technique first, as everyone needed a fighting style to build off of. Which in case the young straw hat wearing boy had none, as he just threw punches wildly and indiscriminately. Knowing that, the dark haired boy would begin working on that, but first he had a spar to get back into, as he didn't intend to miss out on any more of it than he already had.

Across from where the four fought, where the two girls sat, Nojiko sighed for what was probably the tenth time since the boys's training session began. "Why exactly are we out here again? I mean it's not like we're participating, not that I would given the chance."

However there was no comment on her words from her younger sister, so wondering if she was even listening, the blue haired girl turned to look at the orange haired six year old, "Nami?"

Said young girl currently had her eyes transfixed on Luffy, as they refused to leave him even as he jumped around and fought with the other boys. Her attention was solely on him, and as she continued to stare at him, she couldn't help but replay the memory of when she talked to him after he had been patched up over and over again in her head...

* * *

_Several hours after the Porchemy incident..._

_Luffy lie in his bed, unconscious and covered in bandages, looking like a mummy, his eyes and mouth the only things not wrapped up. Nami sat in a chair right beside him, his b___eloved straw hat still resting on her head as she_ held his left hand with both of her hands. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying so much, and even now she was still choking back sobs, as she still feared for her best friend's life, and on top of that, guilt consumed her as she believed this was her fault. Her head was hung as she muttered apology after apology to the young unconscious boy, "I'm sorry Luffy. I'm so sorry that this happened. But please Luffy, please, just wake up. Wake up and tell me that you're okay...please..."  
_

_At that a groan escaped the dark haired six year old, as his eyes slowly began to open up. As he came to, Nami dared to look up, and seeing him conscious, even if not fully yet, caused her eyes to go wide and for relief to flood her being. "Luffy...?"  
_

_Even though his eyesight wasn't a hundred percent yet, the raven haired boy could still tell it was Nami, and as new tears began well in her eyes, he asked with concern, "Nami, what's wrong?"_

_"What's wrong? You idiot! What's wrong is that you almost died! All for...for...for me...an-and...this is all my fault! I'm so sorry Luffy!"_

_As she began crying in full force once more, Luffy forced himself up to a sitting position and decreed, "No it's not!"_

_Not even a moment later and he leaned forward to wrap his orange haired friend into a tight hug, despite his body crying out in protest as he did. "And anyone who says it is is dumb."  
_

_The young girl shook her head as best she could while being embraced, as she continued to blame herself. "Yes it is. It's because of me that you had to go through all that pain. He hurt you so much, and you took it all just so he wouldn't do the same to me."_

_The young hatless straw hat wearing boy pulled back for a moment because of the girl's words, "Is that what you're crying about? That he hurt me? Nami, that was nothing."  
_

_Raising her head so they were face to face, an angry look came over her, though the tears didn't disappear, and she said, "Nothing? Nothing!? Look at you Luffy, you look like a mummy with all those bandages! That isn't nothing!"_

_Luffy didn't take back his words even though she was angry and trying to convince him he was wrong, as he shook his head, "You're wrong, I've felt much more pain than that before, so it is nothing."_

_Her frustration growing, the six year old girl then rebutted, "How? How can anything be more painful than what that monster did to you!? What could possibly be more painful than-than this!?"_

_"I was alone."_

_Those words caused Nami to pause, her anger leaving her as confusion replaced it, "Wha-what?"_

_As an almost haunted look came over the young boy's face, he looked into her eyes and replied, "Being all alone hurt so much more than what that guy did to me, it hurts more than anything I've ever had happen to me, it's the most painful thing I can think of. And before you and Zoro came along, that's what I was, alone."_

_Nami was speechless, as she just stared at the dark haired boy, her eyes wide, as his expression changed once more, going from haunted, to a sincere smile as he said, "But you guys made it where I wasn't alone anymore. And now, I've got you, Zoro, Ace and Sabo, so I won't ever be alone again."_

_After saying that, Luffy pulled his friend back into a tight hug that he had stopped only so he could look her in the eyes and speak. In doing so, he was able to feel it as a particular strong sob racked her body, and as it did, she wrapped her arms around him, so as to return the embrace. "Oh Luffy..."_

_The two held each other for several moments, before Luffy, mirth in his voice, said, "I do look kinda like a mummy, huh."_

_Despite herself, Nami was unable to stop herself from bursting into laughter at her best friend's words._

* * *

Nami was snapped out of it when her older sister snapped her fingers in her face, "Earth to Nami, anyone in there?"

She shook her head a bit before turning her head to look at Nojiko, and asking, "Huh? What is it?"

A small wry smirk crossed the blue haired girl's face as she responded, "You've just been staring at Luffy for the past five minutes, and in case you didn't know, that's the worst way to keep your crush on him a secret."

As a red hue came to the orange haired girl's cheeks, she rebutted with, "I-I wasn't staring! I just spaced out is all!"

"Yeah right!" The older of the two then proceeded to burst into a fit of laughter after saying this, and it only intensified as Nami looked ready to maul her, and yet retained the redness her cheeks had from blushing.

However both of the girls, as well as all the boys, stopped in the middle of what they were doing, as someone who had just entered the vicinity cleared their throat, drawing everyone's attention to them, said person being none other than Kuina. Now that everyone's eyes were on her, more specifically Zoro's, she spoke, "So this is where you're always running off to."

As a group everyone blinked at that statement, before the four boys, who were all mid attack, pulled back and stepped back from each other, turning to look to the new arrival as they did so. As they did, the girl who carried a bokken of her own made a remark, "Well, at least you're training. Not that it'll ever make a difference...at least not against me."

Zoro was already scowling, clenching his fists, as she got under his skin like no one else...except for maybe Nami. Also annoyed by her words and attitude, seeing his green haired friend's reaction was just the thing needed to get Luffy to speak up, "Oh, come off your horse high!"

Sabo then proceeded to butt in, as everyone was staring at Luffy incredulously for what he had said, and corrected his young friend, "You mean high horse."

"Yeah, that!"

The nine year old girl scoffed at that, "This coming from a two-bit pirate to be? Don't make me laugh."

Sabo was about to explain that one as well, but seeing Luffy gritting his teeth in annoyance and anger, told him he already knew what she meant. "Two bit!? I'm not going to be a two bit pirate! I'm the one who's gonna be king of the pirates!"

The older girl couldn't help but laugh at that statement, "Yeah, right. So your highness, that makes Zoro your swordsman then?"

Having had enough of her attitude, Zoro spoke up as well, "Yes, it does. And the one who's to become king of the pirates deserves no less than the best on his crew, so I vow here and now, in front of him and you, I will become the world's greatest swordsman!"

Her smirk disappeared at those words, as she replied with, "To ever hope to reach such a goal, first you'll have to surpass me."

The beginning's of a fierce look in his eyes, Zoro responded with, "I intend to."

Taking ahold of her training sword, though it wasn't an actual sword, with both her hands, she took her fighting stance and let a genuine smile cross her face. "Come and show me then."

* * *

Several weeks later...

"Nope, I'm good." The blue haired girl who said this was currently walking away from the other six kids who stood in a tiny clearing within the Mount Corvo forest.

As she walked away from them, three of them tried to convince her to come back...

Nami, "Come on Nojiko, it won't kill you to play along."

Sabo, "Yeah, lighten up."

Luffy, "It'll be fun!"

Still walking away, the eight year old responded to their words, more specifically the straw hat boy's, "Yeah, right, loads of fun I bet. No thanks, not interested."

Ace was the next to try and get her back, "It's not like you're signing yourself up to become one just by playing."

Even Zoro made some kind of attempt, "Even Kuina agreed to go along with it, guess that makes you even more stubborn and uptight than she is."

Just about to exit the clearing, Nojiko came to a stop for a moment, before turning to face the others, huffing and then speaking, "Fine, I'll at least stay to see what the big deal is about this game of yours is."

She then took a few steps to where she was under a tree, before she made one last comment, "But don't think that means I'm going to participate in any way! Because I refuse to play pirate, no matter who else is playing, that understood!?"

Both Luffy and Nami, their smiles wider than they had been a minute ago, nodded their heads in understanding, so as to appease the blue haired eight year old. And with that, said girl took a seat underneath the tree, her eyes on the others just as she had agreed to.

With that out of the way they were almost done setting the game up, and now it was time to form the teams, which was done rather quickly.

The first team was made up of Ace, Sabo and Kuina.

The second team was, of course, made up of Luffy, Nami and Zoro.

And with that matter settled, that only thing left was the objective for the game to be decided. Ace and Sabo were the ones to come up with that one...

"Regardless of what kind of pirates they are, the fact is that all of them love to plunder, whether it be food, treasure or anything else of value."

Being able to tell where his blonde friend was going with this, Ace picked up where he left off, "And a navigator with a talent for what they do would also be at the top of the list of things for a pirate to want to steal, especially if it was the only thing of value among the people they're stealing from."

The top hat wearing nine year old picked it up once more, "And since that's the case, you'd be priority number one Nami."

Said orange haired girl's eyes widened at those words, as she realized exactly what he intended. But before she, Luffy or Zoro could react, Ace lunged for her, rather than Sabo, which also surprised her. And even though that was the case, the six year old girl was still able to make a run for it, the nine year old black haired boy just barely managing to miss her as he made a grab for her.

As her two teammates were about to turn to Ace and keep him from her, they were rushed by the other two. Kuina rushed Zoro, just as Sabo rushed Luffy.

Zoro's attention was immediately on Kuina as she charged him, having to abandon his target to defend himself from the strong strike said nine year old girl was going for, doing so by raising both his bokken and crossing them in an x. As their bokken slammed together, neither gave an inch, and only a moment later they both began to push forward, so as to try and overpower the other and leave them open to further attack. This lasted for several seconds, before Kuina won out, causing the green haired swordsman trainee to stumble back, the older girl lashing out with another strike with her bokken as he did so, hitting him in the chest, causing him to hiss in pain. He quickly recovered however, and blocked the next attack his rival went for, using his right bokken to do so, allowing him to go around her guard and strike her with the left one. Though it did hit her, she moved back at the last second, causing her opponent to score only a glancing blow on her right arm. Not letting the pain show, she quickly corrected her stance and prepared herself to clash with her younger opponent, just as he did the same.

Luffy's eyes left the form of Ace and glued themselves to Sabo, as he ducked under a swing from his pipe and tried for a right jab to the chest, but was denied as the blonde managed to bring the pipe back fast enough to guard with, causing his fist to slam into it. As it did, he tried for a left hook, which the older boy sidestepped to avoid, before bringing his pipe up and slamming it down onto his younger friend's hat covered head, knocking him flat to the ground. Before he could do any more than that though, the younger boy grabbed ahold of his right leg by the ankle with his right hand, and pulled it out from underneath him, causing him to fall back onto his back with a surprised yelp, which also allowed the raven haired boy to get to his feet without interruption. Once on his feet, he turned to attack Sabo once more, however he was halfway to his feet, and swung his pipe from where he was, causing the younger boy to step back to avoid the blow, allowing the blonde nine year old to get fully to his feet. This put the two of them at a stand off, with about five feet between them, as they both prepared to attack once more.

Nami was running as fast as she could given her late start, since she had been surprised by the older brother of her best friend jumping at her, trying to grab her like that. Given the fact that she wasn't looking back to check, she wasn't sure how close he was to grabbing her, but she figured it was close, as after she ran by her sister, she saw her eyes on something just a little bit behind her. So she rounded the tree the blue haired eight year old sat under, and ran back towards her team, hoping they would get the nine year old boy off her tail. Unfortunately they were busy with the older boy's team, or 'crew' if you would, since they were playing pirate, not that she expected herself to be the objective. Nevertheless she didn't complain, at least not yet, and continued to run, passing by Luffy, Zoro, Sabo and Kuina as she did, sure of the fact that Ace was right behind her. And that was proven, as only a few moments later, she felt him grab ahold of her, before taking her off the ground and tossing her over his shoulder.

Everyone's attention was on Nami and Ace, as they came running by, her over his shoulder, pounding her fists into his back and shouting at him, in his ear in fact, something Zoro pitied the guy for. "Put me down darn it! I didn't agree to this! Let me go right now!"

Despite all her yells and shouts, the nine year old continued on running with her, and just before he past Nojiko, he looked back and called to his hostage's team, "If I can get her back to Fusha village, then my team wins!"

Hearing that got the two other members of the orange haired girl's team to disengage from their battles with their opponents, before proceeding to chase after them, in hopes of keeping their team from losing the game.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro were racing after Ace as fast as they could, not sure how long they had been at it, probably eight or nine minutes, possibly longer than that. That didn't really matter, what did matter was that they were getting close to the village, which meant if they didn't hurry they would lose the game. They also had to worry about Sabo and Kuina, who were surely hot on their heels, catching up to them and delaying them even more than they already had. And despite the added weight of carrying Nami, Ace was still pretty fast, since that was the case, the green haired swordsman trainee couldn't help but ask aloud, more to himself than anyone else really, "How is the extra weight not slowing him down?"

At those words the orange haired girl, who could see her two 'crewmen' since she was facing them, seemingly forgot about her predicament, as shark like teeth filled her mouth and she began shaking her fist at Zoro as she cried, "Are you calling me fat!?"

The two bokken wielding eight year old was quick to retort, his annoyance quite clear in his voice, "Oh shut up!"

Before the two could argue further, Luffy lunged forward, managing to finally get his hands on his older brother, tackling him to the ground from behind and causing him to let go of Nami. While Ace hit the ground, doing so with a grunt of surprise, his younger brother landing on top of him, Nami rolled two or three feet, and Zoro came to a stop, Sabo and Kuina doing the same just a few feet behind him.

The first of the three to their feet was none other than the navigator to be, and by the fact that her shark teeth had yet to disappear, and that they were grit together hard, it was safe to assume she had yet to calm down. Now on her feet she whirled around to face Ace, who had managed to throw Luffy off his back and was currently halfway to getting to his feet, before stomping over to him. She then brought her right fist up above her head, before bringing it down and slamming it down into the top of his head, punching him as hard as she possibly could, causing him to yelp in pain as he was knocked back down to the ground. "I didn't agree to that you jerk!"

She turned to Zoro after that and closed the distance between them, before proceeding to nail him in the face with a strong right hook, also knocking him to the ground, saying this as she did so, "That's what you get for calling me fat!"

The raging orange haired six year old turned once more, this time to Sabo, who got to his knees and put his hands up in surrender now that he was on the receiving end of her anger, while giving a cry of, "I give!"

Despite his proverbial waving of the white flag, the young girl still strode over to him and cold cocked him, knocking him to the ground as she spoke once more, "Like I care! This stupid stunt was your idea in the first place!"

As she whirled around once more, Luffy, who had gotten to his feet by that point, flinched as he thought he was next, "I'm sorry, please don't hit me!"

But after a few moments and no pain, he looked at where she had been, to see she was still there and was huffing and puffing in only partially quelled anger, but was thankfully not making her way towards him.

Kuina couldn't help but snicker, as she had enjoyed watching the entirety of that scene.

That's when Nojiko finally caught up, coming to a stop just a foot or so from the only female there besides her and Nami, before quirking an eyebrow at the sight of Ace, Zoro and Sabo all unconscious on the ground, with large bruises, or in Ace's case a large bump on his head, and her younger sister breathing in and out as she tried to reign her rage in. "So...does that mean the game is off? Or does this qualify as a tie?"

The younger of the sisters then turned to face the older one, giving her a glare as she did so, and in response she merely let a somewhat smug smirk spread across her face. "Told you playing this stupid game wouldn't end well."

* * *

A few days later...

All seven of the children were in the small clearing once more, spread about the small area.

Nojiko sat under a tree, while Kuina was leaned up against the same tree, both looking disinterested to what was currently going on.

Nami and Zoro stood a few feet to the side of Luffy and Ace, who were both facing Sabo, in the midst of an 'interrogation' that the older black haired boy had started. "Don't lie to me Sabo."

The young blonde threw his hands up in an almost surrendering motion as he said, "I'm not, I swear!"

It was immediately obvious that answer didn't appease Ace, as he still had a look of suspicion on his face, and knowing how he was, the nine year old who was being questioned knew it would be too much to hope for him to drop it, as he knew him well enough to know that wasn't going to happen.

That's when Luffy proceeded to ask, "Sabo, why are you sweating so much?"

That question was a fair one, as many beads of sweat were rolling down the top hat wearing boy's face, which if that wasn't enough to make it clear he was lying, the fact that his face was plastered with an expression of severe nervousness was. So, the older of the black haired brothers pressed further, "I was there in town with you, I clearly heard that guy say your name, calling to you, I just want to know how he knows you."

Waving his hands as if that would actually wave the question off, Sabo replied with, "Don't be silly Ace, why would one of those stuck up rich people call my name? They wouldn't take the time to find out the name of a simple street urchin."

With every word the young blonde spoke, it became clearer and clearer he was lying through his teeth, and Ace was quickly becoming fed up with it, "Just what are you hiding!?"

"Nothing! You've got to believe me!"

Ace's voice softened at those words and the almost desperate look on his blonde friend's face, "We're friends aren't we? You can tell us anything, you know that."

Luffy nodded his head firmly at his older brother's statement, "That's right! No matter what it is you tell us, we will always be friends! But...if you really don't want to tell us, then that's okay too."

As he finished saying this a large smile spread across his face, and seeing all the trust he had in him, Sabo could feel his resolve crumbling.

The older raven haired boy had a different reaction, as he gave his younger brother an annoyed glance and said, "Not helping Luffy. We want him to tell us his secret, not encourage him to keep lying to us."

"But I'm not! I just think that if he really doesn't want to tell us, then he shouldn't have to! And we shouldn't make him either! We're friends, and that's not what friends do!"

The nine year old's annoyance was quickly building into anger, as he glared at his younger brother while saying, "Friends don't lie to each other either!"

Despite that statement, Luffy didn't take back his words, in fact he looked ready to fight his older brother over this, he wasn't the only one, as said older black haired boy looked ready to do the very same. However before things could get physical, Sabo caved, letting out a big sigh of defeat and letting his arms drop to his sides, as he spoke, "Alright, fine, I'll tell you. Just don't fight, please."

That got the dark haired brothers's attention, so they did as he asked and focused solely on him. "My father is...I'm the son of...I've got..."

It was obvious that whatever it was, it wasn't easy for the young boy to talk about. But he had agreed to do so, so he did so, though hanging his head as he did, so as to keep himself from seeing all his friends's expressions. "I'm the son of a noble!"

He had expected gasps, maybe some cursing from Ace, however no one made a sound, and with his head down all he could see were his feet. So, in spite of what he feared seeing, he raised his head to see what their reactions were.

First his eyes went to the two girls under a tree, as they weren't exactly his friends, so he felt he could handle however they felt about him the easiest. The younger one seemed somewhat surprised, the older one though didn't seem to even be paying attention. Then his eyes went to Nami and Zoro, both of whom seemed a little confused, the orange haired one of them more so than the other. Finally, he let his eyes land on his two best friends before him, both of whom he had been dreading their reactions, and what he saw surprised the hell outta him.

The two were picking their noses with their pinky fingers, looking wholly uninterested in the young blonde's statement, and as his eyes met theirs, they said in unison in equally bored tones, "So?"

Sabo's eyes widened, and he couldn't but say aloud, sounding exasperated and disbelieving, "You have got to be kidding me!"

Seeing as how the two brothers didn't seem like they were going to stop looking as if they had just been seriously underwhelmed, the top hat wearing nine year old sighed once more, before speaking further on what he had just revealed, his tone becoming quite sad as he did. "The truth is, my parents are alive. I'm not an orphan, and I didn't grow up in Gray Terminal either. The man who called me out earlier, when we were in town, was an acquaintance of my Father's."

Lowering his head so all he could see were his shoes once more, Sabo continued, shame evident in his voice. "I really did lie to you guys, I'm sorry."

Using his simple logic, Luffy proceeded to say, "He apologized, so it's fine, right? I forgive him."

The nine year old's head shot up at that, his shock and disbelief evident on his face at Luffy's quick forgiveness.

Ace seemed just a little taken off guard, and it showed in his tone as he spoke, "To tell the truth, I'm shocked, as well as a little confused. I mean, if you were a noble, why on Earth would you want to run away, let alone to a place like Gray Terminal?"

Sabo was silent at that question, at least for a few moments, before he finally decided to answer. "The reason I ran away...is because to my so called Father and Mother, I'm nothing more than property."

Those words got everyone's full attention, as all eyes were now on the young blonde as he continued to speak, his tone becoming quite bitter as he did. "I was forced to study for ungodly hours, so as to become a 'proper' noble, just so I could later marry some kind of princess, all so as to increase my family's rank. All they wanted was an heir to protect their status and fortune, not me."

Sabo stopped for a moment, so as to keep himself from shedding any of the tears that were welling up and threatening to spill out, before continuing on, the bitterness leaving his voice as anger took it's place. "If I couldn't marry a royal girl, I'd be nothing more than trash to them. For that reason alone, they made me study with a crazy mean and strict tutor every single day. And on the days I didn't live up to expectations, which was most of them, they would fight over what to do with me since I wasn't good enough for them. I was just a bother in that house, nothing more."

The nine year old proceeded to clench his fists as tight as he could, trying to rid himself of some of the anger and sadness he felt, but to no avail. "As for why I chose the Gray Terminal, the nobles despise it, and I'd much rather stay there than live a life that has been planned decades in advance for me in that suffocating High Town that they love so much."

Kuina's eyes were shut tight after hearing all this, as she did not wish to show that tears were building in her eyes.

Nojiko couldn't help it as a few tears began to roll down her face, as despite the fact that she wasn't close to Sabo, or that she didn't know him that well, his story was awful and saddening.

Zoro had only a simple scowl on his face, as while he was somewhere in between a friend and acquaintance when it came to Sabo, the thought of anyone being treated like that seemed wrong to him.

Nami was crying a little more heavily than her sister was, as she had on a few occasions wished that hers was a wealthy family, and hearing all this showed her what deep down she already knew, money doesn't buy happiness.

Ace's face was almost blank, though not because he didn't feel for his friend, no, it was because he was lost in deep though about everything said friend had said. But after a few seconds he snapped out of it, and a look of sympathy came upon his face, as he said, "I see...I'm sorry Sabo..."

The top hat wearing nine year old gritted his teeth, as clenching his fists still wasn't working to relieve any of his sadness or anger, but it didn't help either. Through clenched teeth he spoke of his parents, "Just the thought of them...my Mother and Father...fills me with rage. I hate them so much!"

Luffy too was upset, as he couldn't bare the thought of one of his friends being hurt or sad, tears were in his eyes and were threatening to spill out at any moment. "Ace..."

The younger black haired boy then turned to his brother and asked, "...is that how you feel when you think about your Dad?"

Those words got everyone's attention on the young straw hat wearing boy, and before either Ace or Sabo could stop him, the raven haired six year old continued, "Is that how you feel...when you think about Gold Roger?"

After those words were said, you could have heard a pin drop. All was silent as no one knew what to say, or how to react, but everyone's eyes were wide in shock, aside from the dark haired brothers's that is.

Ace slowly looked to the ground as his secret came out, his eyes were shadowed over by his hair, and his body was almost shaking in anger, as he clenched his fists so tightly they almost brought blood.

That's when Luffy realized what he had done, his eyes widening in said realization, "Ace...I'm sorry, I didn't meant to-"

The younger black haired boy didn't get to finish his sentence, as the older one lashed out, hitting him with the hardest right jab he could manage, causing the straw hat wearing boy to hunch over from the blow. The older of the siblings then followed up with a hard knee to the face, knocking his brother back onto his ass, before taking two steps closer and grabbing him by the front of his shirt collar, pulling back his right arm, and shooting it forward, hitting him with the hardest right straight he could. He didn't stop there, he lifted the six year old up a bit more by his shirt, before proceeding to begin hammering away at his face with the same fist over and over, near screaming as he did so, "Damn you Luffy!"

Luffy didn't put up any resistance as his older brother began to beat him, he simply began to cry and beg for forgiveness. "Ace, I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking! FORGIVE ME!"

He did this, not so that he would stop hitting him, but so that he wouldn't hate him. As his eyes were staring into brother's, and they were filled with hate, and that filled him with pain. Because he was made of rubber he didn't feel much from the beating he was receiving, however he was filled with pain at the thought of his older brother hating him because of a stupid mistake he had made.

Despite the fact that Luffy made no move to stop the fist pounding he was taking, it didn't last for more than ten seconds at the most, as Zoro, Nami and Sabo quickly intervened.

The green haired eight year old knocked his best friend's older brother off of him with a strong right hook, causing said dark haired nine year old to stumble sideways away from Luffy. The swordsman trainee didn't stop there, proceeding to tackle the older boy to the ground, and return a few of those blows he gave to his younger brother. After dealing those few blows to the black haired boy, he had to stop him from struggling, as the punches weren't doing it, so the eight year old placed his right arm against the raven haired nine year old's throat, making it to where if he struggled too much, he could cause himself some serious harm.

"GET OFF OF ME!"

"Not until you calm down!"

"I have every right to be angry!"

"Maybe so, but something tells me you don't even realize just what you were doing, so look over at your brother and see for yourself!"

Those words got the nine year old to cease his struggling, and while at first he didn't do as he was told, after several deep breaths, he did so, turning his head, so as to allow him to see his younger brother.

He was lying on the ground, his face tear stained, his nose broken and bleeding, as well as a bit of blood leaking from the right edge of his mouth. Seeing that nearly caused Ace's heart to stop, as it took a lot of hard physical blows to make Luffy bleed.

Nami was currently on her knees beside him, trying to make sure he was okay. While Sabo stood in front of the two, with his arms out to the side, and his anger at Ace evident on his face.

That's when the nine year old's attention was brought back to the one keeping him on the ground, and the look on his face said what needed to be said, "You went too far."

That's when Kuina walked up beside the two boys, looked down at Ace and said, "If he wasn't made of rubber, that little fit of yours could have caused him some serious injuries, including brain damage with how hard you kept hitting him."

Ace's attention was pulled to Luffy once more, as Nojiko came to help Nami, and Sabo spoke up, his anger clear in his voice. "I know your Father is a touchy subject, but what you just did was wrong on so many levels. It was an accident, and even if it hadn't been, that doesn't justify your actions!"

The dark haired nine year old knew he was right, and he felt shame consume him over his actions, and felt tears begin to well up in his eyes, so he closed his eyes tight.

Kuina the asked, "So you already knew who his father was?"

Sabo nodded at that, "Yeah, he told me a long time ago."

That's when everyone's attention was drawn to Luffy once more, tears continuing to roll down his face, as he cried out as loud as he could, "I'M SORRY ACE! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

The nine year old's eyes shot open at that, and the tears that had been threatening to spill began to do so, sliding down his face one after another. And seeing this, and all the regret in his eyes, Zoro let him up, which the dark haired boy took advantage of to get to his feet and scramble over to Luffy, "No Luffy, I'm the one who should be sorry! Forgive me for hurting you!"

Nami moved aside so as to let the dark haired boy reach down and pull his younger brother into an embrace, where they both proceeded to cry even harder and apologize to each other over and over again.

As they did this, Kuina spoke a thought she had aloud, "If you were just going by how they act, it would be impossible to guess they weren't related by blood."

Zoro nodded his head in agreement, as he made a remark of his own, "At the core they're a lot alike, but it was thanks Luffy's stubbornness and refusal to give up that they ended up brothers in the first lace, not the things they had in common. That little knucklehead just has a way of getting to you and making you want to be there for him."

Kuina couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at that, "It seems he's gotten to you the very same way."

A small smirk of his own made it's appearance, as he replied with, "Yeah, I suppose he has."

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	6. The Bond Of Brotherhood

F-ckthesystem125: Yeah, she'll make a few more before the real adventure begins. Though they won't be as long or as important as the ones she made in the last chapter.

electro64: Well then, thank you so much for taking the time to review my story out of all the other stories you could have chosen. As for when we'll reach the original One Piece timeline, if everything goes as planned, chapter ten should be the first chapter of the original storyline. That is not guaranteed however, as there are still several things I need to get done before that, and it depends if I can fit these things into the upcoming chapters.

Now then, here's the next chapter, so please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Ace was currently on his way to Bellemere's house, where he was supposed to meet up with his little brother and his friends for a visit. Despite the fact that he hadn't met this woman once, he was more than willing to go, not only because she had given his little brother a better place to stay, a real home, but also because she was the mother of Nojiko and Nami, both of whom he knew he could trust at this point. He was just a little apprehensive about it though, mainly because it had only been a couple of days since his violent outburst against Luffy, and despite the fact that Zoro and Nami had been glaring at him with something akin to hate for the days that followed, the real reason he was so uncertain and against this, was because it was still somewhat hard for him to look his little brother in the eyes.

Not because he would see anger and hate, but the opposite, love and trust. He couldn't bare to see that even after hurting him so, his little brother didn't even hold the slightest grudge, and still trusted him and loved him. Though he supposed he should have seen that coming, as when they had first met he had done far worse things to him, and he still clung to him like a lost puppy, without so much as a hint of malice towards him, ever. That wasn't the case anymore however, at least when it came to clinging to him, as the young straw hat wearing boy now had Nami and Zoro, and was with them most of the time. Though the past four or so months the three, along with Nojiko, had been hanging with him and Sabo, the last of that time also saw Kuina joining them as well.

Now would everyone be at this little get together? He honestly had no idea, but he figured the only ones who might actually not be there, were Sabo, Zoro and Kuina. Since Luffy was there though, it was all but ensured that Sabo and Zoro would be there as well, and as for Kuina...well who knows. She was friendly enough after a week or so of getting to know her, but she didn't seem to have much of a real connection to anyone, besides Zoro that is. Though theirs was a rivalry through and through. She did seem interested in Luffy, though that was probably because Zoro had decided to be his right hand man, and it also might have a bit to do with how crazy he was and how high he aimed in the world, he probably intrigued her.

He didn't have time to think any further about such things, as he reached the house. He was about to walk in, as he had been invited, but thought better of it at the last second, and opted to knock instead. Only a moment after he did so, he heard someone call out from the other side of the door, "Come in."

So he grabbed a hold of the door knob, opened the door and did so. What awaited him in the house wasn't anything like he was expecting, that's for sure. "SURPRISE!"

As everyone in the room called this out, Ace had to keep himself from jumping back in shock, as everyone was here, including Kuina, as well as a red haired woman, who he guessed was Bellemere, and they were so close that his ears were almost ringing when they shouted that one word. Nevertheless, he stood where he was instead of jumping back or moving forward, wondering what was going on. He didn't have to wonder for long, as all seven of the other individuals in the room made it clear as to what this was, "HAPPY TENTH BIRTHDAY ACE!"

They then moved out of the way, so that he could see the dining table, set with eight chairs and eight plates, and right in the middle was a large birthday cake, not necessarily the biggest in the world, but a hell of a lot bigger than the cupcake his Grandfather usually gave him. Said cake was chocolate and was covered in white frosting, it also had red frosting on it, it being used to spell out his name, and the words happy birthday. And of course, there were ten candles on it, lit and ready to be blown out.

Seeing this all left the boy shell shocked, as his eyes were wide and he made no movements. But after several long seconds, he allowed his eyes to move so he could see everyone's faces, which all of them had smiles on them. Of course they all differed, Luffy's was the biggest, Nami and Sabo following close behind, third place went to Nojiko, Bellemere came after, then finally there was Zoro and Kuina, both only sporting smirks rather than full blown smiles. But nevertheless, they were all happy, and on today of all days. It left him flabbergasted, as the red haired woman was the only one of them to not know who's son he was, and yet they were happy to celebrate the day he was born. He had to bite his bottom lip to keep the tears that were swelling up from coming out, and although he did it successfully, he honestly didn't know how long he'd be able to keep them at bay, especially as Luffy dragged him over to the table, Bellemere closing the door as he did, put him in a chair and said, "When I told everyone what today was, they insisted we needed to throw you a surprise party. So, here it is. Were you surprised?"

The older black haired boy only nodded his head, as he didn't trust his voice at the moment. At his nod of affirmation, the younger dark haired boy's smile grew even larger, as he had always wanted to throw Ace a birthday party, but he hadn't ever been allowed to. Not that it stopped him from trying the first time, but it didn't end so well, so he let it be. Now though, with everyone's help, they could make Ace's birthday special, and the raven haired six year old was very happy for that.

The seven who had set this up all took their seats, putting them all in the birthday boy's line of sight, and began encouraging him to blow out the candles. As they did, Ace hung his head, putting his lap in his line of sight, as he gripped a handful of his shorts with both hands so hard that his knuckles began to go white, while continuing to fight back his tears. Even doing all this couldn't keep him from speaking, he just couldn't help himself, so he asked the question he had wanted to know the answer to for years, "Was it good...that I was born?"

The words varied, but every answer was the same...

Luffy, "Of course!"

Sabo, "You know that it was!"

Zoro, "It was."

Kuina, "Yes."

Nojiko, "Why would you ask that!? Obviously it's good that you were born!"

Nami, "How could you even ask that!? Everyone deserves to have been born!"

Ace's head shot up at all those answers, his eyes wide and disbelieving at all those words and the vehemence behind them, and it became impossible to hold back his tears, so they began to slide down his face. That's when his eyes met Bellemere's, her being the only one who hadn't said anything, and now having his attention, she spoke, "It doesn't matter who's blood you carry in your veins, as sin isn't in the blood. The fact that you're the son of Gold Roger, doesn't mean a damn thing. Everyone deserves a chance at life, and no one should be deprived of their life for such idiotic reasoning as their father being a criminal, especially a child such as yourself. You more than deserve to live."

The smile that had dropped from her face at the birthday boy's words returned, as she spoke once more, her tone considerably more upbeat this time, "Now, would you mind blowing out your candles? If you don't hurry, there's going to be wax all over the cake by the time it gets cut."

Ace's eyes were wider than ever before, as he didn't think she knew, but even more so than that, a former marine saying these words to him...he couldn't fathom it. He bit his bottom lip almost as hard as he could, to keep himself from sobbing aloud, but it didn't work, as only a moment later he was all out crying his eyes out, sobs racking his body, as he spoke, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you all so much!"

Tears were now racing down his face and he was crying harder than he ever had before, however the ten year old had never been happier than this singular moment in time, as even if it was only a small group of people, they all accepted him despite the blood that ran through his veins. He felt a warmth in him that had been sparked by Luffy, and thanks to the same little rascal, has gone from a small ember to something more akin to a large bonfire, with the help of the other people in this room of course. It felt better than he had imagined it would, it honestly did.

Bellemere still had that smile on her face, as she said, "So, you gonna blow those candles out or what?"

Ace nodded his head, as he tried to get his sobbing under control, doing so only partially, before proceeding to blow out the candles on his cake. With that done he worked on getting his tears to stop as well as his sobs, while Bellemere cut the cake and handed out slices, putting the first piece on his plate before getting to everyone else.

Thankfully, by the time everyone had their slice, Ace had managed to stop the flow of tears, and was able to speak clearly again, mostly. So as they dug into their cake, more specifically the boys, they began to talk amongst themselves. And as they did, Bellemere had to bop each of the boys more than once, excluding Sabo as one bop reminded him of the table manners he had learned, so as to remind them not to talk with their mouths full.

They talked about anything and everything, as they were all feeling good at that moment. One topic in particular, was that Bellemere had a tangerine farm back at Cocoyashi village. And how that they might be able to start a small one here as well, if everything went well that was. In fact, Bellemere was planning on making a deal with Makino and her bar concerning these tangerines they might be able to grow. From there it steered off into the new move Luffy had made by messing around with his rubber ability, then to Zoro's lack of direction, to which he denied was true, to how many times Kuina had beaten him in a duel, and then to the citizens of Cocoyashi.

Just as they had finished talking about Genzo, a firm knock was heard at the door. Bellemere excused herself to answer it, it only taking a moment or so to get over to it and open it. Just as it was fully open, the booming sound of Garp's voice was heard, "It's good to see you Bell, how are the girls doing?"

Both Luffy and Ace jumped out of their seats, exclaiming in unison as they did, fear more than evident in their voices, "Grandpa!"

They then proceeded to scramble away, trying to find a place to hide before he noticed them. It was too late however, as the greying man brushed past his former comrade, as politely as he possibly could, and reached the two in an instant, scooping them up by the backs of their collars, and dangling them several feet in the air. Despite that, the two continued to struggle with all their might, as they had to get away, because if they didn't...he'd kill them. That's when both brothers proceeded to cry out, in unison, "Help! He's gonna kill us!"

The look on the marine's face was enough to let everyone know he was indeed in a foul mood, if that wasn't enough however, his words did the trick, "Damn right I'm gonna kill you!"

The larger than average man then turned and proceeded to exit the house, not lecturing the two as he did so, which just worried the brothers more, still keeping them suspended by the backs of their collars as he carried them. Everyone followed them of course, most of them out of worry, three of them out of curiosity. They didn't follow them far, as they stopped only ten feet from the house, where the aging man then tossed the two boys none too gently onto the ground. "I've kept in touch with Makino, and some of the things she's informed me of-"

The marine hero stopped mid sentence, his eyes going wide, as he noticed something on top of Luffy's head that wasn't there when he left the village. "Luffy, that straw hat-"

Seemingly forgetting about the imminent danger he was in, the young boy popped up to his feet, a big smile on his face, as he said, "This? Shanks gave it to me! Said to return it when I became a great pirate!"

Garp's eyes went from wide with shock and disbelief, to anger and annoyance, as he said, "That damn Red Hair!"

The man known as the fist then clenched his fists tightly, as he spoke once more, "Even after everything I've said, done and shown you, all the time I've put into trying to make you two into fine marines, you still insist on being disobedient little brats!"

He then lashed out, ramming his left fist into the side of Ace's head, who was on his feet as well at this point, his right fist into the side of Luffy's head, and ramming their heads together, causing twice the damage. Both boys cried out in pain as they collided, before hitting the ground once more. Both quickly sat up, a bruise already forming on Ace's head where it had met Luffy's in the collision.

"That hurt!" Luffy's eyes widened after those words left his mouth, as that didn't make any sense. He was made of rubber, physical blows shouldn't hurt at all. Even that beating Ace had given him hadn't hurt, though he had been hitting so hard that he did manage to draw blood. "But I'm rubber, that shouldn't have hurt!"

His eyes then, of course, went to the one who had caused the pain, his grandfather, and asked, "What was that!?"

A predatory smirk crossed Garp's face as he replied, "I've told you a million times boy, never underestimate my Fist Of Love! It can do anything, including knocking sense into crazy little boys who eat devil fruits! No matter what you do, my Fist Of Love will always be ready to put you back in line whenever you step out of it!"

Luffy shook the state of pain off, as he got to his feet once more, and proclaimed, staring the older man down as he did so, "I don't care what you say Grandpa! When I get old enough, I'm going to set out to sea, and become King of the pirates!"

The aging man stared right back, as he said, "King huh? There just isn't an end to your insolence is there!?"

He sighed as he shook his head, his smirk gone, before speaking once more, "However, I have all day to beat some sense into you! And that's just what I'm gonna do!"

With that said, the looks of fear on their faces twisted into ones of complete horror, causing the aging man's predatory smirk to evolve into a face splitting smile.

As the five other children watched, Sabo tried to suggest that it wouldn't be too bad, but even as he did, he wasn't so sure himself. "He wouldn't hurt them too bad would he? I mean, it can't be as bad as they're acting like its gonna be, can it?"

Nojiko nodded her head, "Of course not, he's their grandpa."

Kuina also nodded her head as she agreed, "That's exactly what I was thinking."

However Zoro rebuffed those words, shaking his head as he did, "You're wrong, it's just as bad as they're making out to be."

Nami's face was etched with worry as she said, "Zoro's right, it's just that bad. We were there when Garp left the village, let's just say his goodbyes with Luffy and Ace weren't too gentle."

That is when the aging man sent Luffy flying into and crashing through a building, leaving a child sized hole where part of the wall used to be. The marine wasted no time in retrieving his grandson, dragging him back to Ace, and beginning to beat on the two all over again. As this happened, the three non believers winced in sympathy.

This continued for several moments, before out the corner of his eye, he spotted Sabo, and stopped hitting his kin, so he could make his way to the young blonde boy. The boy only had a moment to panic, before the greying man scooped him up, and brought him to the beat down, speaking as he did so, "And don't think I don't know about you, I was made aware of the fact that all the trouble these two stirred up you were involved in as well, and since you have no parents to do it for you, I'll have to be the one to beat some sense into you!"

Sabo made a desperate plea for help, but it was soon cut off, as his face was in the ground after a strong punch from the larger than average man.

The beating of the three children continued for almost a whole minute, before one thing in particular got someone to interfere...

All four children who weren't currently having the shit kicked out of them, cringed in sympathy as the marine hero body slammed the three, which prompted the only other adult, if you considered Garp an adult that is, to put a stop to this.

Bellemere wouldn't allow this blatant child abuse to go on any longer, so she marched up to her former colleague, grabbed a hold of him by one of his ears, and proceeded to physically drag him away from the boys, and into her house, not only emasculating him in front of the children, but also making him look like the man child he was, as he fussed and whined the same way Luffy and Zoro did when they got the same treatment from the red head.

She closed the door behind her, before letting the larger than her man go, and proceeding to ask the question many people had been wondering for years, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Garp was about to rebuttal, before he could however, she continued, "I mean honestly, using Haki on a child, how could you sink so low?"

Once more the aging man opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off once again, "Those three have been through a lot, they don't need your screwed up way of parenting on top of everything else. Why I have half a mind to take legal guardianship of those two boys away from you, Sabo as well for good measure."

Finally the marine hero managed to get a word in edge wise, "Bell, calm down, alright? Those boys need tough love, believe me. Besides, I'm just trying to keep them from going down the wrong path, if they become pirates...then their lives are over. The only way they're going to have any kind of life is if they join the marines, as they're far too strong and rowdy for simple civilian life."

The red head quirked an eyebrow at that, "Is that so?"

"More than you could know Bell. After all, if word got out about who their fathers are, they'd be number one and number two on the most wanted list. Hell, if you knew you'd agree with me."

An almost bored look on her face, she then said, "I know who their fathers are Garp, I'm not stupid. I know you well enough to know that Dragon's your son, which obviously makes Luffy his son. And as for Ace, I found out yesterday who's son he is. Believe me, I know you're right, but only to a certain degree. If the marines found out who's sons they are, they would indeed do everything in their power to execute them. What you don't seem to understand is, that they'll do that no matter what they are, whether they be pirate or marine. So why not let them choose? After all, it's their lives, not yours, they should be the ones to decide, not you, where their destinies lie."

"I-I..." Despite how much he wanted to find some reason to disagree with her logic, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find one. However, the Monkey family was nothing if not stubborn, not to mention those with the initial D, so still, the aging man insisted, doing so after sighing heavily of course. "I know that, but...I just can't bare the thought of having to face them in battle someday. Please Bell, let me do my best to put these two, three now it seems, on the right track. Let me do whatever I can to make them into marines, and if they still end up becoming pirates one day, then so be it."

The tiredness and defeat in his voice didn't suit him at all, which was the only reason the red head was considering obliging him. "I'll consider it, but tell me what you have in mind first."

Sighing once more, the greying man proceeded to do as she asked, "I'm going to put them up with a gang of mountain bandits that owe me a favor."

The scrutinization of his plan was clear not only on her face, but in her voice as well, "You have got to be kidding me. If Makino really has been keeping you up to date, then surely you must know that Luffy hates mountain bandits, he won't be able stand living there. And with Ace's attitude, from what my girls have told me, he probably won't fare much better. As for Sabo...well I'm not sure honestly."

Garp looked into the younger woman's face, as he replied, "But that's the exact reason I'm sending them there. I'm hoping that in seeing exactly what the life of an outlaw is like, it will make them want to become marines, if not because they don't like how they live, then simply because of their hate for people like them."

The twenty something woman seemed to contemplate it for a moment, "I don't know..."

Seeing that he was close to getting her to agree, he made one last attempt to persuade her, "Six months, just give me six months. After six months they can come back to Fusha village, whether they've changed their minds about becoming pirates or not, I promise."

It was Bellemere's turn to sigh now, "Fine Garp, but six months and not a day longer."

A small smirk finally came back to the marine hero's face, "You have my word."

"Now then, why are you here? You couldn't have cleared this mess up yet, otherwise you'd have put me and my girls on a boat before you began abusing your grandsons."

The older man winced at the word abuse, but shook it off and answered her question, "I'm meeting up with a contact on an island nearby in about a week or so, and since I was in the vicinity, I decided to drop by and see my grandsons."

"Abuse them you mean."

Again with that word, it caused Garp to cringe, how he hated it. But he had gotten his way with her, for once, and would be able to do what he had planned to when he came here in the first place. So he made his way for the door, just as he reached it though, Bellemere asked one more question, "It wasn't Makino that sent you letters and kept you updated was it?"

He turned back so he could look at her as he replied, the smirk he had before returning as he said, "No, she kept me updated alright. However, it was Woop Slap who told me the things I really wanted to know. But I knew if I had said that, Ace might try something brash, since I only mentioned Makino though, it'll be fine. As no one I've ever met is able to wish any ill will towards her, she just has this...thing about her, that makes you like her. And besides that, she's good with children, so I knew she'd be just fine."

* * *

All three of the boys who had taken that beating from Garp lie on the ground, moaning in pain and covered in bruises, their friends either kneeling next to them or standing over them to make sure they were alright. Nami and Zoro by Luffy, Nojiko by Ace, and Kuina by Sabo, though only to make sure he was conscious. This didn't last long, as Garp soon returned, scooping the three up once more, despite the objections their friends made. "Time to go brats."

With that said he began walking away from Bellemere's house, before the others could chase after him however, Bellemere stopped them and explained what was going on, "I know you guys aren't going to want hear this, but Garp has decided to take those three to live up in the mountains, so as to isolate them from the rest of us for awhile."

The look of fear and distress on Nami's face almost made the red head wince, and the look of anger on Zoro's face also spoke of his thoughts on the matter. Nojiko looked worried for the three's safety, and even Kuina couldn't hide the hint of concern on her face, as she had just seen first hand how Garp is, knowing that she knew their lives were indeed in some danger.

The two closest to Luffy, despite Bellemere telling them not to, quickly went after them, voicing their vehement protests to this as they drew closer. However, before they could catch up, the twenty something woman caught them instead, though they just continued to struggle in her arms. "Listen, it's not as bad as you think it is. Garp agreed that they only had to stay there for six months, and then they can come back, no strings attached."

Nami had tears building in her eyes as she continued to try and wiggle out of her mother's grasp, "But Luffy needs us, Ace and Sabo don't always know how to handle him! Ace gets angry and Sabo gets confused, and with Garp, things are so much worse! Besides, it's not fair! He can't just take Luffy away from us like this!"

For once, Zoro was in agreement with Nami. "This is ridiculous! He abandons them for over a year, then comes back and tries to act like some kind of parent!? The least he can do is take us too, so we can help our friend!"

Bellemere couldn't hide the frown on her face at that point, "He's just doing what he thinks is best for them."

The two children then said in unison, "But it's not the best for them!"

The red head nodded her head at that, "I know."

Once the four were out of sight, the two stopped struggling, and as that was the case, the twenty something woman spoke once more, "It'll be okay, trust me. You know those boys are tough, they can handle themselves. And besides that, while Garp is very eccentric, idiotic and severe, he also cares for his grandsons more than can be expressed. They're gonna be fine."

As acceptance of what was happening finally nestled itself in the two children's minds, the younger of two couldn't keep the sadness off her face, while the older one wore a large scowl for someone his age. In seeing this, Bellemere just sighed, before turning them around and taking them back to the house, along with Nojiko and Kuina.

* * *

"I already told you Gramps, I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!"

"Shut it Luffy, you're only making this worse for us!"

"It can get worse!?" Sabo asked with fright.

"You have no idea!" Ace answered.

Garp, who held the young straw hat boy by the cheek, who since was now made of rubber bounced and dangled helplessly in his grip, wincing over and over again as he was in pain the entire time this was happening, was making his way through the forest, his two grandsons and Sabo being dragged along with him. While he held his younger grandson by the cheek, he held Ace and Sabo by the backs of their collars with his left hand, as his right hand had Luffy.

The aging man then lifted his youngest grandson to where they were eye level and proceeded to shout in his face, "What do you mean, King of the Pirates!?"

The marine hero didn't even pretend to wait for an answer, as he continued on into the forest, his grandsons and Sabo tightly within his grasp. Luffy of course, had yet to stop struggling since they left Fusha, "L-let me go, dammit!"

"Not only did you eat that Devil Fruit, but now you're spouting this nonsense!" Garp growled in annoyance. As he was saying this, Luffy was repeatedly hitting his arm, desperately trying to free himself from his grandfather's grasp.

Whether the greying man was unaware of his grandson's attempts to free himself, or he just didn't care, the young boys didn't know. The marine then proclaimed, "Luffy, both you and Ace are destined to be great marines!"

Both boys in question then exclaimed loudly and in unison, "Like hell!"

Only a moment later, "Dammit.." Luffy groaned. "...I'm made of rubber, so why does this hurt!? Please let go Grandpa!"

"Leaving you in a peaceful village like Fusha was a mistake." Garp said, obviously not paying the slightest bit of attention to Luffy. "I mean of all things, Pirate King!?"

Luffy was beginning to see there really was no way he could escape his grandfather's hold, so in his desperation, he latched onto the first tree they came across that was close enough for him to do so, after coming to said realization.

"You imbecile!" Garp continued to rant, failing to notice Luffy had latched onto a tree as he did. "Just interacting with that damned Red Hair is completely unacceptable, and yet you've gone so far as to befriended him, you're even wearing his damn hat! Disgraceful!"

Garp continued to walk, causing Luffy's arms and cheek to stretch beyond their limits. And as he walked a few more feet, the tree the young boy had grabbed ahold of began to uproot. The only two people to notice this were Ace and Sabo, and as they did they quickly tried to get the aging marine to stop, however he was ignoring them as well. So within seconds after their pleas to stop, the tree was completely torn out of the ground and Luffy snapped back towards his grandfather, the tree catching a ride along with him.

Again, the dark haired ten year old and the nine year old blonde were the only ones to see it coming.

"Holy shit!"

"It's coming right for us!"

Garp didn't know what hit him when the tree came slamming into his back, however, despite being caught off guard, he easily managed to stay on his feet. Rather, it was the tree that broke in half as if it was nothing but a measly fragile toothpick.

"I'm going to become stronger than even Shanks!" Luffy proclaimed loudly, taking no notice of the damage he had just caused.

Both Ace's and Sabo's eyes were shut tight, as they had closed them when they flinched away when the tree came barreling towards them, but at the straw hat wearing boy's words, they opened their eyes, to see they were just fine and that, luckily, the very same man who was manhandling them had taken the whole of the impact.

The blonde couldn't help but exclaim, in much more joy than was needed at the moment, "We're alive!"

The raven haired ten year old wiped the sweat from his brow as he let out a sigh of relief, "That would have hurt."

Having stopped after the tree had slammed into him from behind, Garp started walking once more, looking as if that hadn't bothered him in the slightest, as if it hadn't even happened in the first place.

* * *

Soon enough the four reached their destination, a large and somewhat rickety house that was settled near the edge of the forest. Laundry could be seen swinging in the wind on the clotheslines that they were placed upon, and the roof was in disrepair, overall the place had a rather homely feel to it. Nevertheless, the boys still didn't wish to be here.

Unlike how he had knocked firmly and kindly on Bellemere's door, Garp began just banging loudly on the door to this house. As he did, Luffy was busy looking around the best he could with the position he was in, asking aloud as he did, "What is this place?"

The marine hero took a large step back from the door, just before it came flying open and someone came charging out. All of the boys's eyes were on this person, taking in their appearance.

This person was rather tall and overweight, with long orange curly hair and a big masculine face. They wore a white collared shirt, a pink beaded necklace, green chequered trousers held up with a large brown belt, with a silver buckle, and black heeled boots. They also had a cigarette in their mouth, and looked more than a little pissed. "Who's the reckless fool who dares to knock on my door-"

"It's me." Garp said calmly, cutting this person off as he did so.

This large person suddenly lost all of their previous anger when they saw Garp, jumping away in terror as all the color drained from their face. "Ga-Garp!"

That's when the boys finally realized this was a woman, and when they did...

Ace couldn't help but think to himself, "That's just nasty."

Sabo couldn't help but think to himself, "She's as ugly as the nobles!"

Luffy didn't think his comment, instead he blurted it out, "You're really ugly."

However, the woman was in such a state of fear, that she didn't seem to register the comment.

Suddenly two other people came running out the house.

One was quite short, wore a white turban on his head, a pale yellow shirt, and a pair of pink, purple dotted, overalls over it. He had beat up brown shoes and, something that stuck out almost as much as his height, a very annoyed look on his face.

The other was taller than average, was bald with a red headpiece, the boys thought it was a comb but they weren't a hundred percent sure, and what appeared to be a wattle on his chin, making him look overall like a chicken. He had a large mustache that connected with the thick sideburns going down the sides of his face, making the whole thing look like one big piece of facial hair, as well as thick eyelashes. As for what he was wearing, he had a decorated jacket paired with a scarf around his neck, and a pair of shorts held up by a standard sash. He also sports what appears to be long, striped socks.

Upon seeing Garp, these two had a very similar reaction to the woman, jumping back in fright as they stuttered out his name in surprise, "It's G-Ga-Garp!"

"You seem to be doing well." Garp said casually, as if the three weren't cowering in fear of him.

The woman then did her best to stutter out the question, "Wh-wha-what do you wa-want with u-us?"

The greying man then proceeded to, unceremoniously, toss the three children to the ground in front of him, putting them between him and the three bandits, as he said, "You're going to be taking care of these three."

The orange haired woman was dumbfounded at his words, not reacting to them as her brain tried to process them, all the while staring at Garp blankly.

"Now come on you three, say hello." The aging marine encouraged.

All three boys were busy rubbing their sore behinds from the none too gentle landing they had, but did as the ridiculously strong man said, as they didn't wish for another beating.

Ace, "Sup."

Sabo, "Hello."

Luffy actually raised his hand in greeting as he spoke, "Yo."

"Who are these kids?" The man with the chicken headgear asked.

"My Grandsons." Garp answered nonchalantly.

All three bandits's eyes nearly popped out of their heads, as they screamed out in shock and disbelief, in unison as well, "WHAT!?"

"Well at least these two are, this one is an orphan who is always hanging around them, so I figured why not toss him to you as well." He said bluntly.

"Garp...I mean, Garp's grandsons...!?" The orange haired woman babbled in shock.

It only took a moment for her to collect herself, before she cried defiantly, "Not happening!"

The other two bandits rapidly nodded their heads in agreement at her words.

Garp crossed his arms and gave a glare to each of them, as he said, "Well, you have a decision to make, you can either spend the rest of your lives behind bars, or you can raise them, which will it be?"

The large woman could only glare back at Garp, as there wasn't anything she could do at this point.

"I've turned a blind eye so far, but you've committed as many crimes as there are stars in the sky Dadan." The aging marine began to laugh good naturedly after saying this.

"Well, it is true that I don't really want to go to prison." The chicken bandit said honestly, as he rubbed the back of his head.

"But at this point prison actually seems tempting, I mean Garp's grandsons? We'd be insane to take them in." The bandit with the turban muttered.

"I'm sure each of these kids are just as much of a monster as you are, aren't they?" Dadan questioned, though she was sure she already knew the answer.

The three boys were finally on their feet at this point, and since that was the case, Luffy let his eyes wander, only doing so for a moment as they soon came to the house in front of him, which he looked over, wrinkling his nose as he did, "What a crappy looking mountain hut!" He said this as if he had just noticed it, which he honestly had.

Both the other two agreed with the youngest boy's words.

Ace, "You said it."

Sabo, "I can't argue with you there."

"You want to die brats!?" Dadan shouted angrily at the boys.

While the oldest two just glared back at the woman, Luffy began to chase a butterfly that had just fluttered past him, giggling all the while.

"These two are insolent, and that one's not even listening!" The orange haired woman yelled in distress.

"Well, I'll be off then." The greying marine said as he turned and began walking away.

"You think this has been settled!?"

Garp turned back, anger clear on his face and a look of warning in his eyes as he said, "What?"

Dadan and the two other bandits immediately backed down, "We'll take care of them."

"Then my business here is done." He said as he turned to leave once more. "I'll come to visit when I have time." The marine hero then proceeded to give a casual wave, just before he disappeared into the forest.

* * *

After Ace and Sabo had gotten Luffy to stop chasing the butterfly, they all went inside, the straw hat wearing boy entering the hut several seconds before the other two. Not even ten steps into the place, and someone had come up from behind and grabbed a hold of him, putting a knife to his throat as he did. "Who are you kid?"

It was too bad for that guy that he had failed to notice Ace and Sabo at the doorway, who upon seeing the young boy in danger, each gave a battle cry as they charged forward, tackling him to the floor. While Sabo procured Luffy from the man's arms, Ace knocked the knife from his hand and began to pound on his face. He didn't have to endure for long, as after three blows he was out like a light, and before the raven haired ten year old could cause any more damage than that, a couple other bandits appeared and pulled him off of the guy.

As he struggled with them, and a few of them began to surround Sabo and Luffy, one of them asked, "Who the hell are these kids?"

"Garp's Grandsons." The bandit with a turban said in a deadpan voice as he walked into the room.

This caused every bandit in the room to go pale, "Garp!"

"They're going to live with us now." The turban wearing bandit said with the same deadpan voice.

All the bandits began to panic and just plain freak out at the news.

"Why did you take them!?" One bandit yelled in disbelief.

"Boss has no backbone at all!" Another bandit cried.

"Shut up!" Dadan yelled as she entered the room, before proceeding to slam down a large plate stacked high with meat on the floor. "It's time for dinner!"

That was all that needed to be said before the bandits dropped Ace, forgot about circling Sabo and Luffy, and charged the plate like a pack of hungry wolves.

"I want some too!" Luffy exclaimed as he jumped to his feet, drool dripping out his mouth all the while. He then attempted a run for the food, but was tackled by several bandits who ran into the room, past him and to said food.

As he tumbled across the floor, he could see all the bandits stealing food from one and other, while also threatening each other with knives and any other sharp objects that were within reach.

Also seeing this, Ace and Sabo shared a look, before getting up as well.

Luffy was back on his feet once more, and there was still one piece of meat left, so he refused to let anyone take it from him. Charging forward, he got ready to attack anyone who tried to steal it, however, just before he got there, Dadan snatched it off the plate, as she had been right next to it, and bit into it.

The young straw hat wearing boy's shoulders slumped in defeat, as he let out a heavy sigh.

Dadan then came around to him and shoved a small cup of white rice into his hands, which he proceeded to swallow in one mouthful.

"Another bowl!" The young boy yelled, despite the orange haired woman being less than five feet from him, "Pops, I want another bowl!"

"I'm a woman!" Dadan yelled back angrily.

"Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot." He gave a small smirk as he said this, while scratching his head as well.

The large scowl the big woman was wearing only grew at those words, "Do you even realize where you've been left!?"

"No." He answered honestly.

The orange haired woman let a sadistic look come upon her face, as she said, "I'll tell you. This is the hideout of the mountain bandits who rule Mount Corvo, the Dadan Family."

"Mountain bandits," Luff repeated, before a scowl crossed his face, "I hate those guys."

"Shut up you damn brat!" She yelled. "It's already a pain in the ass that we're gonna have to raise you! If you don't wanna be with us, fine! Just go off somewhere and starve like an animal!"

"I'm still hungry." Luffy whined pitifully as his stomach grumbled. "I want some meat."

Dadan let a cruel smirk cross her face, as she held out her own piece of meat right in Luffy's face. The young straw hat boy smiled happily and opened his mouth to bite down on it, just before he closed his mouth though, she ruthlessly pulled the meat away from him. And as he opened his eyes in disappointment, Dadan just let her smirk grow wider before taking a huge bite out of the meat herself. "I'll have you know, this is all buffalo meat I procured myself, and since you didn't work for it or help to get it, you don't get any. The life of a mountain bandit is harsh, so starting tomorrow, we'll work you half to death. Cleaning, laundry, shoe polishing, weapon polishing, thieving, looting, swindling and killing! And listen, you're not going to say a single word to Garp about the stuff we make you do. Also, one bowl of rice and a single glass of water is all you get a day. Anything else, you'll have to hunt for."

"Alright." Luffy said without so much as a hint of hesitation, shocking Dadan so much she fell to the floor.

"You're fine with that!? You should be crying by now!" She yelled in disbelief as she got to her feet.

"Grandpa threw me in the jungle once." Luffy said as he recalled the memory. "Earthworms, frogs, snakes, mushrooms, this forest has plenty of stuff to eat in it."

As the large orange haired woman continued to look dumbfounded, Luffy shrugged as he spoke once more. "Besides, I'm going to be a pirate someday, so I have to at least deal with this much."

"Not if we have anything to say about it!"

Both Luffy's and Dadan's attention was pulled to the two that had said that, Ace and Sabo, both boys carrying several of the large pieces of meat, more specifically the dark haired one had five, three in his right hand, two in his left, and the blonde had four, two in each hand.

Seeing this, Luffy's eyes lit up, and drool began to fall from his mouth like a waterfall, "You guys are the best!"

Dadan couldn't help but be bewildered, "Where in the hell did you get those!?"

Not even pretending to pay attention to her, the three sat down and began to eat. That's when she heard the sound of groaning, so turned her head to see where it came from. What she saw were several of her men, black and blue, as well as bloodied, missing the meat that they had just a minute ago. Her eyes widened, as she turned back to look at the three, a scream just begging to come out of her mouth. However she kept it at bay, grunted in her dissatisfaction with the situation, and turned to walk away, thinking to herself as she did, "Those damn brats are gonna make this place hell."

* * *

Not even a week later, and the three boys had settled in well.

It was currently dark out, so the boys sat around a small fire they had started somewhere not too far from the hut, each one of them sitting on a stump around said fire. They had caused a lot of trouble that day, so they were kicked out for the night, which they were just fine with, as long as they had each other, it was a breeze to survive out here. They were also currently eating the last of the remains of a very large tiger they had killed a little over an hour ago.

Ace was the first to finish his piece, mainly because Luffy was working on two at once, and Sabo was a slower eater then them, but nevertheless he finished first, which freed him up to speak clearly. "Well now we've hunted together, eaten together, fought together, bled together, cried together, and had the crap beaten out of us by Grandpa together, guess that makes us three as good as brothers huh?"

Luffy nodded his head vigorously in agreement, however he did not stop eating.

Sabo however put his piece of meat down, before replying to that, "Yeah, I guess it does."

Ace let a large smirk cross his face at that, "How about we make it official then?" As he said this, he reached behind him, before pulling out three small sake cups and a bottle of sake from behind his stump and showing them to the other two.

Luffy swallowed the food in his mouth, before asking, "Did you steal that liquor from Dadan?"

A glint of mischief in his eyes, Ace said, "You know it."

He then began to pour sake into each of the cups, saying this as he did, "Did you know, that when men drink together, they become brothers?"

Luffy's eyes widened in awe and delight at those words, "Is that really true? You mean we can really make Sabo our brother!?"

The face of the young blonde in question lit up, as he loved the sound of that.

"I know we've all decided to sail under different flags when we're older, but with this, we are united in the bond of brotherhood. No matter what we do or where we are, no one will ever be able to break that bond!"

He passed the two other boys their cups, forcing Luffy to begrudgingly put his meat down. From there Ace spoke one more time, "From now on, the three of us are brothers!"

The three then slammed their cups together, before downing the sake, sealing their eternal bond of brotherhood.

"Yeah!" They all shouted as they finished.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	7. The Pain Of Loss

SeerKing: Thanks. And so am I, I just can't wait to write some of the stuff I have planned for later.

F-ckthesystem125: As I said before, I write when I feel I can put out my best, so when the inspiration strikes, I go at it. That's exactly why my updates can be few and far between, or can be literally only days apart, each with good substance, or so I believe at least. It all depends on what's going on around me, and my current mindset.

Here's the longest one so far, and, in my opinion, the best so far. Please, tell me what you think. Now, please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

It had been just over six months, three, maybe four days over to be exact. Nevertheless, Nami and Zoro were deeply concerned, no to be exact they were out of their little minds with worry, not that the latter would admit it to anyone but his Master. They had been promised the return of the one that meant so much to them, the one who had become a permanent part of their lives, the one who had brought their little group together, the one that made it bearable to be around each other, one Monkey D. Luffy. And that promise had yet to be fulfilled.

Bellemere was going to give Garp hell about this, everyone who knew about the situation knew this, he was even coming to the island today, so they knew she'd get her chance, but that didn't ease the worried minds of Nami and Zoro even the slightest bit. They wanted their best friend home, hell they needed him home, however they knew it wasn't as simple as that, just because they wanted and or needed something, doesn't mean it will be given to them. And that was exactly why they were in the forest of Mount Corvo, trying to find Luffy, Ace and Sabo. They had been told by Bellemere that they would be staying in some kind of hut on Mount Corvo, so all they had to do was find it.

Of course, no one knew they were out here, as when they had mentioned their idea of trying to find the three boys themselves, they were either told to be patient, Zoro's master Koshiro, that they were idiots, Kuina, that they needed to stop being so brash and foolhardy, Woop Slap, to please not do anything that's going to get them hurt, Makino, that they had no idea where they were and would just get lost, Nojiko, and finally, to please let her handle this, she'd get them back, Bellemere.

Obviously they hadn't listened, as they were both marching through said forest at that moment in time. Though it was true they honestly didn't know where to go, not that it mattered to them, they were determined to find Luffy, Ace and Sabo, Luffy most of all. As he was their future captain, but he was so much more than that, so much so that the children couldn't hope to put it into words.

On a different note, neither one of them had come with more than the clothes on their backs, except for Zoro's practice swords, his bokken, he had brought them along, but that was it. It didn't matter though, as they didn't need anything else, as while Nami didn't know where to find the three boys they were looking for, she knew they were in a hut in this forest, and she had a great sense of direction, so they'd be fine. Just as long as she made sure Zoro continued to follow her that is, as it wouldn't do anyone any good if he got lost.

There were, of course, dangers in this forest, such as larger than average animals, some ridiculously so, but that's what Zoro was here for. As all of the boys had shown they could handle most of these animals by themselves, except for one in particular they had to watch out for, a gigantic tiger that they had dubbed the Great Tiger or Tiger Lord, depending on which one of the boys you asked about it. It had found them one day, after the boys and Kuina had finished a very heated training match, and had proceeded to try and eat them, luckily they had proved to be too much trouble, as despite how tired out the five fighters of their group were, they had managed to land several blows on said huge beast and push it back, until it decided to abandon it's prey and retreat. So all they had to do was avoid that one animal, and they would be fine.

* * *

Ace and Sabo glanced to one and other, the worry evident on their faces, as they watched Luffy sitting just out in front of Dadan's hideout, staring out into the forest, as if he was looking at something besides all those trees, though both boys knew he was staring out into space, as almost nothing could get his attention when he was like this. What was most unnerving was the sad look he had on his face whenever he was like this.

This wasn't the first time they had caught their little brother like this, as it happened two or three times a month, sometimes more. The two boys had tried on several occasions to get him to talk about it, but in response he would only say 'It's nothing', before getting to his feet and wandering back inside, making sure to give them a smile as he did, though one much smaller than they were used to seeing. It more than worried them, as they didn't understand what was causing him to act like this. They would have pushed him on the subject, but after every incident he was back to normal in a few hours, so they let it go. Not today though, they were going to get it out of him, no matter what they had to do to do so.

So they approached him slowly, coming to a stop right beside him, Ace on his left and Sabo on his right, and taking a seat. They both stared out into the forest with him for several long moments, before Sabo finally said, "Please Luffy, tell us what's wrong."

The young straw hat wearing boy didn't respond at first, so both older boys looked at him from the corner of their eyes, where they saw tears were beginning to well up, and soon began to fall. As they did, he finally told them what they wanted to know, "I miss Nami and Zoro. I miss Fusha, the villagers, Woop Slap, Makino and Bellemere too. But I can handle them being gone, Nami and Zoro though...they're special. They're just as important to me as you guys are...and I miss them so much, so much that it hurts."

The young raven haired boy pulled his knees to his chest, before hanging his head, the tears coming faster now, though not fast enough for him to begin sobbing. The two older brothers finally understood what was wrong, and honestly they weren't too surprised by it. Those three had been together since Luffy was five, and overall had spent more time together than either of them had with their little brother, which had guilt building within the gut of the oldest of said siblings. As Sabo had spent almost every day he's known Luffy with the young boy, while Ace had known him for three years and had spent less time with him than the orange haired girl and green haired boy had with only knowing him for two thirds of that time.

The two older boys didn't get any further time to reflect on this, as the straw hat boy raised his head and proceeded to ask, "Can we go back? I need Nami and Zoro around, so can we please go back to Fusha?"

Both boys let warm smiles cross their faces, as they spoke in unison, "Of course we can."

* * *

The three brothers were currently trekking through the forest, doing their best to try and make their way to Fusha, though they weren't too sure how to get there. Sabo was guiding them, but he couldn't recall the entire trip they had made with Garp, so they were basically winging it.

Despite the fact that they were leaving their home of the last six months, the three had packed considerably light, as besides the clothes on their backs, Sabo wearing his signature fancy get up, Luffy wearing his signature straw hat, a dark blue sleeveless shirt, black shorts and his sandals, and Ace wearing a dark red sleeveless shirt, black shorts and black sneakers, all they had was a foot long pipe each, and the small handheld telescope Sabo had found for Luffy, which said youngest boy was carrying in his pocket. They had also forgot to mention to the bandits of said home that they were leaving for good, not that any of the three thought of that as something important to do.

Sabo led the way, as he had better navigation skills than Ace and Luffy, the latter of whom had absolutely none, while Ace followed behind, and Luffy took up the rear, so as to make sure he wouldn't get lost as he could see both his brothers this way. They continued to go through the forest this way, taking care of any animals that crossed their path and didn't know better than to attack the trio. Even still, they assumed they were making great time, as they had left around three or four PM, though none of them were a hundred percent sure about that.

Nevertheless, they all had a rather cheery disposition, as everything was great, none of the three were outcasts any longer, they had each other, and Luffy in particular had Zoro and Nami as well, and all three of them had friends in Nojiko and Kuina, though not nearly as much so as each other, and said youngest with the green haired boy and orange haired girl. They were also about to begin living in Fusha, which of course would be a first for the two older boys, as they had lived on their own away from said peaceful village. And on top of everything else, Garp wasn't around to beat them senseless, so yes, today was a great day indeed.

* * *

As the three brothers stumbled across the same little clearing that Sabo had first met Luffy in, not to mention three of his friends, they knew they were getting close, so all of them broke out into large smiles. "Almost there, just a bit further."

That's when the sound of bickering caught their attention.

"This is taking too long, only if I had a real sword on me, I could cut these damn trees down and we'd be able to find them so much faster." The first voice growled.

"Well, we'd be making better time if you hadn't gotten lost and forced me to stop and find your stupid ass!" The second voice screeched.

"What!? You're the one who got lost!" The first voice argued.

"Are you kidding me!? You always get lost! Always! You've gotten lost at least once everyday since I've known you!" The second voice pointed out.

"Oh that is such-"

The two who were arguing with each other stopped as soon as they entered the small clearing, their eyes going wide as they saw who was waiting for them in it.

The two took in the appearances of the three, the youngest of them in particular, just as they did to them.

Zoro still wore his blue training GI, and really didn't look much different, besides being an inch or two taller that is.

Nami on the other hand, while actually wearing the dress she had met the two boys in, which she hadn't in awhile, looked different. Her face had lost a little bit of baby fat, she was two or three inches taller, though that only made her as tall as Luffy, who had grown a few inches as well, but was still the shortest of the boys, though barely at this point, and her hair was also a little longer, just enough to put into a small ponytail in fact, though she wasn't wearing one.

The shock of seeing each other wore off in only a few moments, as Luffy called both his friends names as he rushed towards them, dropping his pipe as he did, Nami rushing to him in return, calling his name as well, before they met in the middle and embraced. As they did he talked to the two month younger girl about several things, before grabbing a hold of Zoro with his right arm, having to stretch it a few feet so as to get ahold of him, and pulling him in for a three way hug. He then proceeded to go on and on about his six months away, how much he missed them, how Ace, Sabo and him were brothers now and more, pausing for a moment to retrieve the handheld telescope out of his pocket and show it to them, and tell them about how Sabo found it for him one day when he'd mention wanting one, tears in his eyes as he went on and on about anything and everything.

He then urged them to tell him what had happened with them in the past six months, which they did, telling him how they had been worried about him, Zoro barely able to do so, as a blush had made it's way onto his face at Luffy's reaction to him caring that much, how they had just celebrated Nami's seventh birthday a day or two ago, to which Luffy apologized profusely for missing it, and how they had both been excelling in what they did best, Zoro in his swordsmanship, and Nami in her cartography.

As the three did this, Ace and Sabo watched from a few feet away, big smiles on both of their faces at seeing their little brother so happy.

"You really shouldn't be making so much racket, it just lets every predator in the vicinity privy to your location, though it's too late for such advice."

The smiles on Ace's and Sabo's faces fell at the sound of that voice, both boys turning to face the owner of said voice, and as they took in the appearance of him, their fears of who it was were confirmed.

Said man was a rather tall man with dark skin, long and unkempt brown hair, part of which was rolled tightly into dreads, and half of his molars missing in an alternating pattern. He wore a white shirt, which was opened from the top to almost the bottom, revealing most of his abdomen, though it wasn't a shirt with buttons, which made it strange. As well as black pants that were kept up by suspender straps which he had around his shoulders, and a traditional captain's coat, though it was blue in color.

Both boys then yelled in panic, and in unison, "Bluejam!"

That of course got the other three kids's attention, all of them turning to see Bluejam, and a little over a dozen members of his crew standing just behind him.

He smirked as he said, "I never would have guessed that one of the three infamous troublemakers was a noble."

Sabo paled at those words, "How the hell do you know that!?"

Ace then spoke a few words of his own, "More importantly, what the hell do you want!?" Though the raven haired ten year old already had a sinking feeling that he knew.

The dark skinned man's grin widened at those words, but he ignored them nevertheless, "Get him, but make sure not to hurt him."

Two of the pirates stepped forward to fight the two ten year olds, as both were clutching their pipes tightly and didn't look like they were going to back down. Before they could begin their battle however, their attention was pulled to the other two boys in the area.

Seeing what was about to go down, Luffy glanced at Zoro, the green haired boy nodding upon making eye contact with his future captain to be, before the black haired one of them grabbed his pipe, and the two took off, dashing towards the pirates, letting out battle cries as they did so. The two pirates didn't expect too much from these boys, so they were greatly surprised when with only a single swing each, both rammed a weapon of theirs into two of their crewmen's guts, Luffy his pipe, and Zoro one of his bokken, and brought them to their knees.

They didn't stop there either, as both of them slammed their weapons into the two men's faces, breaking their noses upon impact and knocking them onto their back, onto the ground, unconscious. And with back up, Ace and Sabo grew more brazen than they would have been, as they began to attack the pirates with their two comrades.

The battle between the four boys and the group of pirates lasted for almost a whole minute, before Bluejam broke it up himself, doing so by firing the rifle he was carrying, the bullet hitting the ground right in front of the boys, missing them by just an inch. All of them looked at the bullet hole in the ground, before looking up at Bluejam, all of them wearing angry and anxious expressions, while he just continued to smirk in return, "Alright kids, just stay where you are, and that goes for you too little missy." He glanced to the young orange haired girl as he said that last part.

Ace then proceeded to boldly claim, "We're not scared of that stupid gun!"

The other three agreed with him as well.

Sabo, "Not scared at all!"

Zoro, "Damn right!"

Luffy, "Yeah!"

And yet, the damned grin of his remained as he said, "Hmmm, true enough. However, she on the other hand, doesn't look so sure."

All three boys glanced back at Nami then, to see her with a look of fear and worry on her face, though most of it for them rather than herself, mostly for Luffy, though there was some reserved for herself as well.

Bluejam proceed to chuckle then, "Besides, it's obvious that, despite you not having any fear of this weapon I carry, that you're smart enough not to move against me so long as I have it trained on one of you. Since that's the case, you'd best give up now, because if one of you so much as even twitch, I'll blow the girl away, and then you two will go right along with her on her trip to the afterlife, if there even is one."

All five children couldn't help but wonder as to why he wasn't threatening Sabo as well, but were too consumed with worry, anger and or fear to think about it further.

The four boys gritted their teeth in anger, their eyes also showing how much they hated what they were about to have to do, but nevertheless begrudgingly dropped their weapons, three pipes and two bokken. "Very good, now men, restrain them."

Besides the ten men the four boys had incapacitated, and Bluejam himself, there were only four men left, just enough to restrain the children, besides Sabo of course, so they quickly did so. Two of them locking Zoro and Ace into full nelsons and lifting them off the ground, so as to make it even harder for them to struggle, one holding Nami in an almost hug like position from behind, lifting her up as well so as to make it harder for her to struggle, and the last one knocking Luffy down onto his face, and then pinning him to the ground.

Of course all of them struggled at first, but a simple wave of the rifle Bluejam was holding got the four children to begrudgingly bite their tongues, for the moment at least.

Sabo glanced at each of his friends, before turning back to face Bluejam once more, and as he did his eyes widened, a look of shock replacing the one of anger on his face, as several uniformed soldiers came out of the woods and into the small clearing. Said soldiers were all wearing gas masks and toting rifles, as they escorted someone who was dressed much differently than them to the pirates.

This person was of average height, had skin darker than most in the area, but lighter than Bluejam, making him of the Caucasian persuasion, long black hair and a somewhat thin black mustache. He wears a blue suit with a flower on each lapel, with the one on his left having feathers attached to it. On top of that he wears a white ascot, and a dark blue top hat with feathers, a flower and a chain like band.

"Looks like we came at just the right time." The fancily dressed man said as he looked over the scene dispassionately.

"Father..." Sabo whispered in dismay.

"Master, he doesn't have a single scratch on him." Bluejam informed.

Giving a snort, the man then said, "Yes, but the same can't be said for your men. I mean honestly, a couple of children were able to take down almost a dozen grown men, pirates on top of that? Pathetic." Bluejam failed to comment, or even react to his words.

He then turned to the soldiers in his company and nodded his head, "Prepare my son to be taken back to High Town."

As two of the men grabbed ahold of the young blonde, Luffy and Ace called out in unison, "Sabo!"

That drew the attention of the noble, "I see, it must be because of these two." He said as he looked between Luffy and Ace with disdain, "They led Sabo down a path of evil."

The man then seemed to finally take notice of Zoro and Nami, only now realizing that they were there, "I suppose you two helped them do so."

As the soldiers prepared to take Sabo away, Luffy called out, "You can't take Sabo away, give him back!"

"What do you mean give him back?" Sabo's Father asked in irritation, as his eyes returned to Luffy. "Sabo is my child! It is the responsibility of every child to live according to the will of their parents who gave them life!" He then stuck out his index finger towards the young straw hat boy, "You have some nerve, lying to Sabo and convincing him to run away from home! You're just a measly bunch of beggars, you've no right!"

The fancily dressed man took a moment to calm himself after that, before asking, "Are you attempting to steal my fortune?"

"What was that, you bastard!?" Ace growled angrily.

The pirate holding Ace responded to the outburst by letting him out of the full nelson, and proceeding to drive his face all the way down from where he was into the ground, causing blood to splatter from the impact and hit the noble's cheek.

Said man winced in revulsion. "Hey now, pirate, be careful how you handle these children!" He then pulled out a white cloth from his pocket, before using it to wipe the blood on his face away. "You got some of this inferior filth's blood on my face!"

Luffy and Zoro both audibly growled at that proclamation, their anger ever rising.

"Please stop, they didn't deceive me!" Sabo yelled, his desperation clear in his voice, as he continued to struggle with the soldiers who had ahold of him. "It was my choice, and my choice alone to leave home!"

His Father proceeded to glare at him, "Just be quiet!"

Turning back to look at Bluejam once more, the noble man then asked, "I trust you pirates will be able to take care of the others?"

"Of course, Master." Bluejam assured. "We've already received payment after all. Rest assured, I will personally finish these four off, so that they can never bother your child again."

This once more elicited growls of anger from Luffy and Zoro, as well as Ace, who's face wasn't in the ground anymore, showing his head had been busted open, as blood was running down his forehead.

Sabo finally managed to breakaway from the soldiers, running up to his Father and Bluejam after doing so, "Wait Bluejam, don't!" He cried, before turning to look towards his Father. "Father, it's alright, I understand!"

"What is it that you understand?" The noble questioned, looking skeptical.

The young top hat wearing boy was near tears as the words began to form in his mouth. And as they did, Ace recognized the look on his friend's face, and proceeded to call out to him, his eyes widening in horror as he did so, "No! Don't do it Sabo!"

The blonde ten year old couldn't bare to look back at his brothers as this all happened. "I'll do whatever you ask." His voice was broken as he finally managed to force the words out. "I'll live just as you tell me to, so...don't hurt these four. That's all I ask. Please...they are my precious and irreplaceable brothers...and those other two, they're very important to my youngest brother, so they need to remain unharmed just as much."

Luffy couldn't help but gasp at his brother's words.

"Sabo..." Ace whispered as he fought back his tears.

"In that case, come back home now!" The nobleman ordered. "Stop with this ridiculous pirate game, right now!"

Sabo said nothing, merely nodded his head before turning to leave with the soldiers and the man who had just ordered this of him.

"Sabo, don't go!" Ace screamed desperately.

"Be quiet!" The pirate who held against the ground said, ramming his face into it once more.

The ten year old just raised his head once more, before continuing to scream at his brother. "Sabo, just run! We'll all be fine! We were going to achieve our freedom together weren't we!? You can't just throw yours away!"

"Sabo, please don't go!" Luffy begged, tears welling up and were soon to begin falling.

"Are you just going to let it end like this!?" Ace cried.

However he still received no answer from Sabo. "Sabo!" Ace yelled again.

Sabo began to sob, his tears now falling, but still refused to face or answer his brothers. His Father then took the lead, and they all disappeared into the forest.

"Sabo!" The two remaining brothers cried out in despair.

Zoro's eyes were closed tight, doing his best to kee his tears from falling, and his teeth were gritted extremely hard.

Nami was openly sobbing, tears falling from her eyes, just as they were from Luffy's and Ace's. With all of the reasons she was crying, the biggest one was the pain she felt for Luffy.

"Captain, what do we do with these kids?" The pirate holding Luffy down asked.

"Bring them back to the base."

* * *

Luffy, Zoro and Ace were all tied up inside a beat up shack once more, though this time they only had ropes wrapped around them and they weren't tied to anything, and this time Nami was tied up as well. They were up against the wall farthest from the exit of the somewhat rickety wooden construct, which was just a bit bigger then the one Porchemy had used to torture the straw hat boy in. This place, unlike the last one, was not located inside Edge Town, rather it was on the edge of the Gray Terminal, and even lacked a floor, which was why the four children were sitting on the dirt at that moment.

The pirates who had been incapacitated had been dragged here, and were in somewhat of a pile in the corner closest to the exit, though they were all still breathing.

The four who were still conscious, besides Bluejam that is, were spread about the shack, two of them leaning against opposite walls, one polishing his cutlass, and the other sitting with his back to the exit to the shack, looking a little drowsy, and very annoyed. Not to mention the two men who stood outside, who had been waiting for them when they got here.

Finally, Bluejam was leaning back in a large wooden chair, a thoughtful expression on his face, as if he was contemplating something.

"You bastard, untie us!" Luffy cried.

"Why did you bring us here!?" Ace demanded.

"We'll make you regret this!" Zoro proclaimed.

"Those nobles have it made, huh?" Bluejam asked, rather than acknowledging any of the three boys's words. "You kids think so too, right?"

None of the children replied to those words, merely leveling glares at the pirate captain, even Nami who, while still scared, was becoming angrier by the second by this man's words and attitude.

"They look down on all of us, thinking us as nothing more than trash, and treating us as such, while they live their proud, carefree lives. Wouldn't you say he's better off living as a noble, where all he has to do is point a finger, and something's his?" Bluejam asked, not stating who he was speaking of, but it being obvious to everyone in the room who he was talking about.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Ace yelled.

"Isn't it obvious, he's no idea what he's talking about!" Zoro growled.

"No way, pirates are so much better than stuck up rich people! Sabo says so too!" Luffy added.

"Money can't buy happiness, you moron!" Nami exclaimed.

Bluejam grabbed ahold of the glass bottle on the desk beside his chair, before putting it to his lips and taking a large swig of the liquor from it. He put it back down only a moment later, speaking once again as he did so, sighing before doing so though. "I feel sorry for you kids." He then glanced to the man polishing his sword and said, "Untie them."

The pirate did just as his captain said, stepping over to the children and cutting them free, not bothering to retrieve the rope after it fell to the ground. And as he went back to doing what he had been doing at the other end of the shack, the kids got to their feet, but kept their backs to the wall.

"Why do you think a child of a noble would abandon a place of luxury like High Town for a rat hole like Gray Terminal?" Bluejam asked, though it was obvious he wasn't expecting an answer from the four, as he quickly provided his own. "All nobles are the same, whether they be children or adults. There isn't a single doubt in my mind that that boy thought of us all as fools. I guarantee you that in his heart, he was looking down on you all as well."

"Don't be ridiculous! Sabo isn't that kind of guy!" Ace shouted.

"That's right, we're brothers, he doesn't look down on us!" Luffy yelled.

The pirate captained seemed amused by those words. "Is that so? Then please, forgive me. But I can't allow you guys near that kid again, and that goes for you two as well. And if you're planning on trying to make contact with him despite what I've said, then I've got no choice but to kill you four right here, right now. If he's really your brother, and you really care for him, then it'd be better for not only him, but you two and those two as well, if you just left him alone." Bluejam looked between Luffy and Ace, as well as Zoro and Nami as he said all this.

Ace's eyes widened at that, speechless for a moment.

Luffy was a different story, "But Sabo hates High Town!"

Zoro kept himself quiet, gritting his teeth to do so.

Nami wasn't quite sure what to say.

"Just forget all about it." Bluejam said dismissively. "That's what kindness is. You'll understand that when you've grown up." He paused for a moment then, before continuing, most likely stopping to consider his next words. "We've had our differences in the past, what with the Porchemy incident, how'd you get your hands on a gun, and which one of you actually pulled the trigger anyway?" After several seconds with no answer, he shrugged it off, before continuing. "But what's happened is in the past, so we'll let it be. Or rather, I like strong guys like you. And I guess the same goes for you Missy. So, I've got a suggestion for you. It's not a half bad deal either."

None of the kids responded, eyeing the pirate captain with much suspicion as he began to speak once more. "I'm short on men, mostly because of you kids, so I could use your help with a job. You up for it?" The man asked bluntly.

This took the four by surprise, as they hadn't expected to be untied, let alone offered a job.

"Oh, don't worry, it's a simple job. There's nothing dangerous about it, I assure you." A smirk crossed his face at that point. "I got a map of Gray terminal right here, and all you've got to do is carry some goods to all the spots marked with an x. That's it. So I ask again, are you up for it?"

"We'll never help you, not after what you helped do to Sabo!" Luffy cried.

A defiant look in the other three children's eyes told the pirates that they were in agreement with Luffy on this.

Bluejam chuckled at that, before taking up his rifle, which he had laid on the desk beside him, and aiming it at the four kids, as he spoke once more, "Now see, what we have here, is a failure to communicate. Sometime while I was speaking, you seemed to get the notion that you have a choice in the matter. Allow me to spell it out for you, either you four do this job I need done, or I'll kill you where you stand."

The boys growled at the pirate, while Nami's glare hardened to the level of the boys's.

* * *

It was several hours past sunset when the children finally finished the job they were forced into doing, well technically anyway. They were almost finished, they only had three crates left to deliver, and all to the same spot. Before they could look at the map and see where they needed to take it however, Bluejam, who had been watching them like a hawk from a distance, so as to ensure they didn't run for it, came up from behind them and snatched the map from Nami, who had been carrying it. As he did, the kids's attention was immediately on him, and with their eyes on him he gave a large, almost taunting smile, as he said, "Follow me, I'll show you kids to your last delivery, and then you'll be free to go." He didn't wait for them to respond, before turning to lead the way and walking off.

The children were all wary, but followed along nevertheless, as they really had no choice in the matter. Despite the fact that they were all carrying crates, the three boys made sure to keep one eye on the pirate captain at all times, just as Nami kept both eyes on the dark skinned man.

They walked for several long minutes, before reaching the edge of Gray Terminal, though the opposite edge of where the pirate's base was. And right there was a large pirate ship, with a red skull as it's figurehead, all four children, upon seeing it, assumed it was Bluejam's ship. They were proven partially correct as they all boarded, as he said, "This used to be my ship, but it fell into disrepair after awhile of being here. We used to keep it near the shoreline, but it's nothing but useless junk at this point, so we went ahead and dumped it here. I'm actually surprised the Gray Terminal vagrants, as there's never enough building materials to be found to go around, so there are bound to be some, haven't moved in here. Though I suppose it's only a matter of time."

Bluejam then stopped, just as they entered the kitchen area of the ship. "Here." He said while pointing at the dining table, where Ace proceeded to place his crate.

Without warning the pirate captain turned and began walking once more, the four quickly following after him, though not too closely. They continued to the captain's quarters, where Zoro placed his crate down on the bed. From there they went to the crew quarters, which was much bigger than the captain's, as it held around twenty or so beds, and had Luffy place his crate, the final crate, in the middle of the room.

After that was done, the pirate turned to the four children, and let his smile widen as he said, "We're all done, so you're free to go."

The four only hesitated for a moment, as they were expecting some sort of attack or treachery of any kind for that matter, but when none came, they turned and hurriedly made their way for the exit of the crew quarters. Once they got there, the door swung open before they could touch it, and there standing in the doorway were the six of the sixteen men Bluejam had left behind at the shack, they were covered in blood, as were their swords, and they had very malicious, cruel smirks on their faces.

All the children's eyes widened upon the sight of them, and before any of them could speak, Bluejam explained why his crewmen were covered in blood. "Perhaps you're wondering why my men are covered blood, perhaps you're not, either way I'll tell you. See, I don't allow weakness in my crew, so for losing to you, those men we dragged back to the base got the only thing they deserved, death. So honestly, you did my a favor when you killed Porchemy."

Nami had to fight back a scream as she was told this, while the boys had to stifle their gasps. "And as I'm sure you've already guessed, they're here, because we have no intention of letting you go."

At those words, the four children quickly made a break for it, whirling around and dashing away from the six pirates, and intending on passing by Bluejam, and getting to the porthole at the end of the room. However nothing ever goes as planned, and the children were soon tackled to the ground, their fear of the situation making them run rather than fight, they quickly realized, was probably the biggest mistake they had made.

Within only moments, they were all tied up once more. Ace and Luffy sitting against the wall farthest from the exit of the room, the porthole just a few feet above them. Nami sat against the wall to the left of the two brothers, but within about a eight foot distance, and Zoro sat against the wall to the right, with roughly the same amount of distance between him and the brothers. Though the distance between Nami and Zoro was roughly ten feet, rather than eight.

The six pirates now stood behind their captain, sharing his same smirk amongst themselves, as they all stared at Luffy and Ace. "Well, now that you're all tied up again, and it's clear to you that none of you are leaving alive, I suppose I can tell you why we had you running this little errand for us." Bluejam said, his smirk somehow growing wider.

"Those crates you carried, were full of oil and explosives, we're going to use them to burn down the Gray Terminal."

"WHAT!? BURN DOWN THE GRAY TERMINAL!?" All four children shouted in unison.

"Shut the fuck up! We can't have you screaming!" Bluejam scolded. "We can't afford to let anyone else know about this!"

"This is serious! We gotta tell everyone!" Luffy exclaimed, looking between his brother and two best friends as he did so. "He's even worse of a bad guy than I thought he was!"

"I told you not to scream!" Bluejam yelled in irritation, his smirk falling away once more, as he kicked the young boy in the face.

However the effect wasn't the desired one, as his head shot back and slammed against the wall, cracking the wood, before shooting back to it's original position, showing his rubber qualities without actually stretching, as he was completely unharmed and didn't even look the slightest bit perturbed.

Despite that, the pirate captain only sighed, before speaking again. "I'm not the mastermind, I mean after all, what would burning this place down and all the people in it gain me? No, the death of hundreds benefits my employers, not me. However, as they are my employers, and they gave this task to me, it benefits me to carry it out, just as I have used you four to do."

"No..." Luffy whispered, going extremely pale as he did so.

"Are you out of your fucking mind!?" Ace cried in rage and disbelief.

"You damned bastard!" Zoro yelled, his anger also flaring.

"You monster!" Nami screamed, tears in her eyes once again.

Bluejam merely laughed at them, seemingly forgetting about his imposed no screaming rule, as he began to speak once more, "Even punk kids like you four are freaking out? Guess that means you're more mature than I gave you credit for, no matter though. Now then, I want to ask you something before the fire, do you have a treasure hidden anywhere here?"

Ace had already told his brother and friends that he had picked up the case of berris back when the Porchemy incident occurred, just before they left the shack he had put them in, so they knew which treasure the dark skinned man was referring to.

The oldest of the bunch merely growled at the man.

Bluejam's smile returned, as he already knew the answer. "Care to tell me where?"

Ace didn't so much as say a word, only leveled a cold, hard glare at the man, the very same one he had leveled at Luffy the day he met him.

Bluejam merely shrugged, as if he didn't care. "Fine, don't tell me." He then turned back to his men. "Let's go men, we'll leave them to burn with the rest of the garbage."

The Bluejam pirates then proceeded to exit the crew quarters, leaving the four children for dead.

* * *

As soon as the pirates footsteps faded, the children began to struggle with their bindings, doing whatever they could to try and break them. Their legs were bound together tightly, just as their arms were bound behind their back, the rope wrapped tightly around their wrists. Despite their spirited attempts, it didn't seem like any of them were getting loose anytime soon.

Luffy groaned and grunted in exertion and annoyance as he continuously tried to break the ropes, however after several attempts, he couldn't help but give a heavy and very annoyed sigh as he said, "These damn things won't come off! What are we gonna do!? We need to get out of here!"

"Way to state the obvious, genius! No shit we need to get outta here, that's exactly why we're trying to find a way to break these ropes!" Ace bit back in response to his little brother's words, it being obvious that the severity of the situation was getting to him as well as he did.

That's when they all heard the sound of a giant explosion going off outside, followed by a bunch of smaller ones, and as they did all their eyes widened, as they realized exactly what was about to happen next. As they did, the sound of the first crate exploding on the ship could be heard, and then the second, and finally, the one placed in the middle of the room exploded into flames as well, causing a large portion of it to catch fire immediately. As this happened, all four children couldn't help but give a cry of surprise.

The fire quickly began to spread, reaching to the exit to the room, as well as the four kids on the other end. As it did, the children began to struggle once more, doing everything they could possibly think of to try and break the ropes that bound them. As they continued to struggle fruitlessly, tears began to fall from Luffy's eyes, as he had somewhat of a panic attack. "We can't get these damn ropes off us! We're trapped! We're going to die! We are going to die!" He continued to cry these words over and over again, and as he did, both Ace and Zoro realized he wasn't doing this out of fear, rather he was panic stricken.

"I'll leave you behind if you don't shut the fuck up!" Ace screamed harshly at his brother.

However, that didn't stop Luffy from continuing to panic. He continued to do so for several more seconds, before Zoro caught his attention. "Luffy!"

The young straw hat boy's eyes went to the green haired boy, and when they made eye contact, he glanced to Nami, which Luffy did as well, and what he saw filled him with guilt. Nami was sobbing, looking like she had given up hope, and looked generally terrified, and what he was doing was only making it worse. Seeing this caused the young raven haired boy's eyes to go almost bone dry, as he forced the look of sheer panic off of his face. "No, we're not. We are not gonna die. We're gonna make it out of this!"

Nami's eyes shot to her best friend at his words, and as they made eye contact, he nodded his head, and she felt hope return. She gave a weak smile, before saying in return, "Right."

"Good, you're over your panic attack, now can we please frickin focus on how we're gonna get outta here!?" Ace shouted.

That's when his eyes caught sight of the porthole above them once more, and as they did, he said, "Never mind, I think I just found it."

"Luffy, stay still." With that said, Ace began to try and roll sideways up and onto his younger brother's shoulders, which would put him upside down. It took several tries, he even fell off and hit his head once, but eventually he managed to pull it off, and once he had, he kicked out with his bound legs, slamming his feet hard into the glass of the porthole, shattering it. Most of it fell outside, and the sudden extra oxygen caused the fire to begin spreading faster, but Ace was able to grab ahold of a shard of it and roll back off, landing on his knees with a grunt.

"Way to go Ace!" Luffy complimented.

"Good, now get your ropes cut!" Zoro barked.

With that their hope began to grow, however their situation was growing more dire by the second, as the flames were now so close, they were licking Zoro's legs, and were just a few inches from being able to do so to Nami. They only had a few moments for fear to begin to take hold of them, as one of the steel bunk beds that were bolted to the wall, fell off and hit the ground right in front of Zoro, hiding the young boy with it's burning state, also making it look like he was a goner.

As this happened, Luffy's eyes widened a great deal, and his face went blank. Only for a moment though, as his face quickly twisted into an expression of fear, panic and desperation, just before he began crying out. "Zoro! Zoro! Zoro! Zoro! Zoro!" With each cry of his best friend's name, his voice grew more and more desperate, as well as horror stricken. "ZORO!"

* * *

Little did the straw hat boy know, that Zoro was still okay, though the flames were now much closer, and as he began crying out for him, his own eyes widened to the max. With each cry, Zoro felt his chest tighten, as despite everything he knew about Luffy, how well he knew him, and the fact that he knew he wouldn't cry out to someone in fear for his own well being, he couldn't help the fact that, in this situation, with the adrenaline pumping through him, his brain immediately jumped to the conclusion that that was what he was doing. That he was calling out to him for him to help him, to save him. It filled him with guilt and rage at the fact that he was bound by these damned ropes, and he began to struggle even harder, as he was now desperate as well, desperate to save his best friend.

* * *

Tears began to prick at the edges of Luffy's eyes, as he waited desperately for his best friend to call back, so as to give him proof that he was alive, that he was still okay. However things only went from bad to worse, as the very same thing happened near Nami, the bunk bed coming off the wall and landing in front of her, obscuring her from view, and making it look like she was as good as dead as well.

Seeing this happen, tears began to fall from the young raven haired boy's eyes once more, his eyes somehow managed to widen just a little further, and he cried out for her as well. "Nami! Nami! Nami!" Though he did it slightly faster, his breathing becoming erratic as he did, much more than a panic attack threatening to overcome him as this happened. "NAMI!"

Ace finally managed to free himself from his restraints at that point, standing up as he did so, before cutting his brother free as well, doing so for him somewhat quicker than he had for himself. He quickly had to grab ahold of him however, for as soon as he was free, he tried to scramble over to help his best friends, despite the fact that he'd be severely burned if he even came close to where they were. "Wait Luffy! You can't! They're already goners! You'll only get yourself killed!"

Luffy shook his head erratically, tears coming faster now, as he continued to struggle against his brother. "No! No! NO! NO THEY"RE NOT! Nami! Zoro! Answer me! Zoro! Nami! Nami! Zoro! Zoro! Nami! Nami! NAMI!"

Despite his struggling, Ace managed to force him back against the wall, looking back for a moment to see if there really was a way to help those two, but he just didn't see it. So, even if his brother hated himself for it, the ten year old prepared himself to force him through that broken porthole and push him outside. As he lifted him though, Luffy decked him in the face quite hard, almost breaking his nose and almost knocking him off his feet, he still persisted though, just as his little brother did. Nevertheless he now had him up there, so now all he had to do was force him through it.

That's when Luffy heard the sound of coughing, before a cry of, "Luffy! I'm here Luffy!"

"See!? That was Nami! That was her voice! She's okay! We have to save her!"

Ace hadn't heard anything though, only the sound of the fire blazing all around them. So prepared to shove his brother through the porthole, just before he did though Luffy snatched the shard of glass from him, cutting his older brother's hand slightly, before tossing it towards where Zoro had been. "Zoro, take this! Use it to free yourself and Nami!" He cried in desperation.

Finally, the ten year old black haired boy managed to shove his younger brother through the porthole, and out of the ship. After he did this, he looked back once more, doing a quick scan of the area for a moment, trying one last time to see Zoro or Nami, or some kind of proof they were alive, he found none. So he quickly followed after his little brother, pulling himself up to the porthole, and slipping through it, and out of the burning ship.

* * *

Luffy was already on his feet by the time Ace hit the ground, doing so with a loud grunt of pain, and his rage was evident, even if his tears were still falling. "How could you!? You just left them there to die!"

Ace got to his feet, before looking his brother in the eye and replying, "As far as I could tell, they were already dead! There was nothing to suggest otherwise! And more importantly, as of right now, what matters most is your li-I mean, our lives!"

Just as Luffy was going to rebuttal, Ace hit him as hard as he absolutely could in the gut, causing him to hunch over, which allowed the older dark haired boy to take him off his feet and throw him over his shoulder. He quickly took off, running to the front of the ship, before booking it as fast as he could away from it.

Soon enough though, Luffy began to struggle once more. And as the boat was almost out of their line of sight, the young straw hat boy refused to allow Ace to take him any further. So he brought his arm forward, before shooting it back, and slamming his elbow into the back of Ace's head, nearly causing him to fall as he did, which allowed him to break free and get his feet on the ground. He then proceeded to deck him in the face once more, actually knocking him to the ground this time.

Not wasting even a moment, the seven year old raced back to the blazing boat, leaving his brother back where he laid. He soon reached it, and throwing caution to the wind, he boarded the giant flaming piece of wood, and barged back into the crew quarters, the flames quickly becoming even more uncontrollable as he did. "Nami! Zoro! Where are you!?"

Not waiting for an answer, he began to make his way further in, wincing continuously as the flames licked his flesh, burning him over and over again. "It's hot! It's hot! So hot!"

However, as he focused on the pain he was feeling, he began to slow, and his vision began to blur. That's when he heard a cry of, "Luffy!? Is that you!? We're here Luffy!" Followed by an accompanying cry of, "Help us, LUFFY!"

They were alive! He knew it! So, he grit his teeth together as hard as he possibly could and forced himself to move faster, rushing through the flames without a care for his own safety, repeating these words to himself as he did, "It's not hot! It's not hot! It's not hot!"

Soon enough he reached the back of the room, and there waiting for him, where Nami had been tied up, was a soot covered Zoro and Nami, the latter of whom was in the middle of having her restraints cut by the former, as the flames licked them, even though they were as far back against the wall as they could be, though they weren't being burnt, at least not nearly as much as their straw hat best friend was. Upon seeing him, they both called out in unison, "Luffy!"

The young straw hat boy's face lit up like a Christmas tree at seeing those two alright, and quickly helped them finish cutting Nami's bindings, and helped them out of the boat and onto solid ground.

* * *

Once out in the not so fresh air, as it was filled with smoke, and the area was ablaze, so much so that even the sky appeared to be red, the three collapsed onto the ground, their breathing ragged.

Ace appeared in their line of vision only a moment later, nursing a bruise on his face, but was wearing a soft smile nevertheless, which grew a bit as Luffy said, "Look Ace, they're alive! Nami and Zoro are okay!"

But it quickly disappeared, as a scowl took it's place. "That's great Luffy, but we all need to get out of here, now. Otherwise we're all gonna die."

With that said, the three other children got to their feet, but before the four could begin to move, an all too familiar voice proceeded to call out, "Who said you could get away, you goddamned brats!?"

The four turned to see Bluejam and his six remaining crew members, walking through the flames like some kinds of monsters, or demons. There was something off about the look in their eyes, and they each had a sadistic expression on their face, their maniacal and insane grins only making them even more intimidating.

"Bluejam!" Luffy exclaimed in shock.

"Why are you still here after setting the fire!? You were supposed to have escaped by now!" Ace growled.

"You're the ones who started this mess, shouldn't you have been the first ones to get out!?" Nami asked incredulously

"Were you actually stupid enough to trap yourselves as well!?" Zoro questioned with an edge to his tone.

"Shut up, you little shits!" Bluejam shouted, losing his cool demeanor while doing so, but quickly recovering it as a maniacal grin crossed his face once more. "We're hopeless, you know. We have an unforeseen dilemma." He chuckled then, as if finding what he was about to say funny. "Humans sure are strange creatures, when they hit rock bottom, they just can't stop laughing." He then broke out into a fit of insane laughter.

His crew also quickly began to laugh along with him.

"They're acting really weird." Luffy pointed out.

Ace's face was quickly overcome by a look of shock and fear, as he realized just what kind of danger they were in. "Guys, we have to go, now!"

"Don't let them go!" Bluejam ordered.

Even as the four made a break for it, the six pirates surrounded them, Bluejam taking the seventh place in the little circle they formed around them, making it where they couldn't escape from them. "We worked together, we're friends." The dark skinned pirate said mockingly, "We have to die together."

"No way!" Nami cried.

"Like hell we are! Zoro yelled.

"Never!" Luffy screamed.

"We don't want to die with you!" Ace snapped.

"You're all so cold." Bluejam said as his grin somehow managed to grow wider. "Come to think of it, you still haven't told me where you keep your treasure. I have to save it for you, before the fire gets it. So, tell me where it is!" He demanded.

All four children couldn't help but stare at him in disbelief, as they all asked at the same time, their disbelief evident in their voices, "Your life's in danger, and all you care about is treasure?"

Bluejam laughed even harder then. "It seems you don't care for it anymore, if that's the case, then just tell me where it is already."

All of the children stepped back in slight fear of this man, as Ace said what they were all thinking, "You've gone mad."

"If you're not going to collect it, it would go to waste." The pirate captain said, almost seeming calm as he did. "If nothing is done, it'll be reduced to charcoal, just like my ship. What a shame."

They didn't have much choice at this point, so Ace said, "Alright, I'll tell you where it is."

Despite all the chaos from the fire, it only took Ace a minute or so to draw up a map, a very, very crude one, but a map nevertheless. "We keep our treasure from the last two years in this tree." Ace said as he finished drawing on the piece of paper Bluejam had happened to have with him, along with finishing with the pen he also had.

"I see." Bluejam said as he greedily snatched the makeshift map out of the ten year old's hands. "I'm so glad you're starting to be cooperative, however I'm afraid our little business venture isn't quite over yet, as you're coming with us!"

"What!?" Ace yelled.

"You could be lying, we've got to take you along, so as to make sure we really get our hands on that treasure."

"No way, then it'd be too late to escape! Why don't you go on your own!?" Ace growled.

Bluejam leveled his rifle to Ace's head as he said, "You really don't want to mess with me right now brat! I'm determined to make a comeback, even if it means stealing from a bunch of kids like you! I will have my revenge on those damn nobles for double crossing me and leaving me for dead, even if it's the last thing I do!"

All three boys looked to each other in that moment, before nodding their heads, all of them knowing what they were going to do next."That's got nothing to do with us, now get out of the way!" All three boys cried, Ace driving the pen into Bluejam's left leg as deep as he could, causing him to yelp in pain as it pierced his flesh, immediately clutching at it on instinct with his left hand, as if it would lessen the pain. As he did this, Luffy grabbed ahold of Nami's left hand with his right, and then all four of them forced their way past the now bleeding pirate captain, and made a break for it, Luffy pulling the young orange haired girl along with them.

However, they didn't even make it fifteen feet, before they were forced to stop in their tracks, as a pirate managed to cut them off. They quickly turned to the left, but two pirates were there, just as there were two to the right. So they quickly raced back the way they had come, towards Bluejam, seeing this, and since he had recovered, he barked an order at the man closest to him, and he followed it, tossing his sword to his captain. Seeing this they came to a stop once more, but before they could rush off this time, Bluejam thrust the sword he held forward, shooting it towards Nami, Luffy moving to intercept it without so much as a thought passing through his head. But just before it could come into contact with him, Zoro put himself in front of him, causing the blade to pierce the green haired boy's abdomen, causing him to cry out in severe pain, as blood began to stain his training GI and leak down his small body.

The other three watched as this happened with eyes wide with shock and disbelief, their mouths hanging open as they did. It took a second for what just happened to really sink in, and as it did..."ZORO!" Luffy cried out in anguish.

"Zoro...?" Nami whispered fearfully and uncertainly.

"He just...took a sword to the chest..." Ace said, unbelieving of the current situation before his eyes.

"Zo-Zoro, w-wh-why would y-you...!?" Luffy asked of him, tears running down his face for the umpteenth time that day.

The eight year old boy turned his head just enough so he could see his best friend out of the corner of his left eye, and as his eye connected with his eyes, he managed to mutter a few words, blood beginning to fall out of his mouth as he did, his voice cracking and shaky, "B-be-because...yo-you-you're my be-best...f-fri-friend."

That's when Bluejam pulled back, the blade coming out of the young boy's flesh with a disgusting sound, and he proceeded to collapse on to his front onto the ground, his eyes closing as he did, losing consciousness because of the pain.

Luffy's eyes were probably as wide as could be at this point, and they were focused solely on the limp, unmoving body of his green haired best friend. "No...No..."

The dark skinned pirate captain proceeded to lose himself in a fit of psychotic laughter at that, stopping after a few moments to speak, "That's called recompense! But at this point, you brats are more trouble then you're worth, so I'll just end you all, and put you out of your, and my, misery!" He threw the sword back to the man who had given it to him as he finished saying this.

Ace snarled at the man, but in return was met with a hard strike to the face with the butt of his rifle, before the man aimed that said rifle, and fired.

Luffy was so focused on Zoro's unmoving form, that he didn't know what was happening around him, not until he heard the sound of a gunshot ring out, and the loud cry of Nami that is.

He immediately whirled around to face Nami, who was mid fall, blood staining her dress, a look of distress, horror and pain on her face. "NAMI!" The young boy cried out as she hit the ground, landing on her back, not more than five feet from Zoro.

The young straw hat boy fell to his knees at that point, his eyes somehow managing to widen even further, while they made contact with the orange girl's own. "Luffy..." The young girl whispered his name, reaching out to him with her right hand, tears falling from her face for the uncounted amount of time as well. "...I don't want to die...please...save me..."

"I will! I will save you! I won't let you die, I swear Nami! I promise you, you won't die! I'll save you, I'll save you, I will!" As he declared this over and over, he put pressure on her chest, where the wound was, as Makino and Bellemere had told him that was what was best to do when someone was shot. He did this for a few moments, but knowing help wasn't coming any time soon, he removed one hand, while keeping one hand on the wound, and used the other to prepare to pick her up, but just before he could, her hand touched his face, her eyes fluttered closed, and her arm went slack and fell to the ground.

Luffy froze as this happened, and his chest tightened to a degree that he felt like someone was crushing his heart. "Nami..." The young boy whispered, hoping to rouse her from whatever state she was in. "Nami..." He tried again. "Nami..." But alas, his words weren't having any effect.

* * *

As the gun went off, Ace managed to get over the pain he was in, his face now even bloodier than it was before, and looked back to see what happened. And as he saw Nami hit the ground, and Luffy falling to his knees, he was filled with rage, so turned around, his fists clenched tightly and his body nearly shaking, when he spotted a pipe. He picked it up, before giving a fierce battle cry and lunging at Bluejam with it, scoring the first hit by ramming it into his ribs, causing him to spit up a bit of blood, clutch his side in pain, and yelp.

As two of the pirates made to kill the boy attacking their captain, he whirled around to face them, and ducked under their swings. He then took advantage of his position and slammed his pipe into the crotch of one of the men, causing them to collapse onto their knees, screaming as they did, where the dark haired boy proceeded to hit him in the face with the foot long metal pipe, using it like a baseball bat, breaking his nose, busting his head open and possibly cracking his skull. He fell back onto the ground unconscious from the blow.

The ten year old then had to jump to his left to avoid the swing from the second pirate, before swinging his pipe in return, hitting the guard of the blade and knocking it from the man's hand, then following up with slamming it into his gut, forcing him to hunch over in pain, as well as spit up some blood. The raven haired boy then raised his pipe as high as he could, before bringing it down as hard as he possibly could onto the back of the man's head, knocking him to the ground, most definitely cracking his skull, busting the back of his head open, and most likely causing some brain trauma, as well as leaving him unconscious.

Ace then set his sights on the next pirate, however, before he could attack him, Bluejam was behind him and slammed the butt of his rifle as hard as he possibly could into the back of the black haired boy's head. Busting the back of his head open, causing him to stumble forward and fall to his knees. Not giving him the chance to recover, the pirate captain repeated his actions, ramming the butt of his weapon into the back of his head once more, knocking him onto the ground, and leaving him in an unconscious state.

The ten year old's last conscious thought was, "Who will protect Luffy now?"

* * *

Luffy felt cold, deathly cold, as he looked between the bloody forms of his two best friends, his mind failing to fully grasp the situation, at least for the moment that is. As his brain continued to wrestle with the sight before him, he was deaf and blind to anyone and anything else, including the sounds of the raging fire around him, the fighting, and the sound of obnoxiously loud maniacal laughter that followed a few moments later. However, that all changed when these words, spoken by Bluejam, reached his ears, "How does it feel boy!? How does it feel to have your world come crashing down around you!? How does it feel to have everything you love be taken away from you!? How does it feel, knowing everyone you ever cared about is dead!? This is what you get, this is what you deserve! This was destined to happen the moment you decided to fuck with me and my operation, boy!"

Luffy's eyes were filled with horror, anguish and despair, just as his facial expression was a combination of these three, as he looked back and forth between the bodies of the two people he cared the most for in the world. "No...No...No..."

With those words Bluejam had spoken, everything finally clicked in the young straw hat boy's mind, and he grasped the situation...Nami and Zoro were dead. With that thought echoing endlessly in his head, he threw his head back and let out a ear splitting cry at the top of his lungs, of anguish, despair and brokenheartedness. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

As this seven year old boy let out his emotional wail, a powerful red aura was blasted across the immediate vicinity, temporarily extinguishing the flames around him, and knocking the five remaining men of Bluejam's crew unconscious, them collapsing onto the ground, foaming at the mouths as they did. This strange power even brought the mighty dark skinned captain to his knees, and as he fought desperately to remain conscious, he looked at the one responsible for this through half lidded eyes, and asked aloud, his disbelief and fear showing through as he did. "Wha-what kind of monster are you!?"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	8. Luffy's Vow Of Strength

electro64: I honestly can't blame you, as I too hate them...reading them that is, I usually love writing them! (Insert evil laughter here.) As for the heart attack, hyperbole or not, be careful, wouldn't want one of my readers dropping dead on me. :P I'm so very glad you enjoyed the chapter though, above all else.

Also, I don't think I have yet, so I'll do it now, I want to thank you, and everyone else for putting up with my update ethic, or lack thereof. I just can't force myself to write when I don't feel like doing anything for that particular fandom at that moment, nothing comes out right. As for the story going unfinished, I'd have to be the one to drop dead for that to happen, trust me. :)

F-ckthesystem125: You already know that answer, so...yeah. :P

NinjaFang1331: Thank you!

midnightscar17:We shall see my friend...or to be more exact, all of you will see, as this chapter will answer the question of whether they are alive or not.

DarkPirateKing69: Well thank you, believe it or not, that means a lot to me. :)

Now then, here's the next chapter, so please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Luffy was a complete mess, his sobs racking his body so hard he shook, tears racing down his face faster than they ever had before, as he cried over the loss of the two people closest to him in the world.

Despite the fact that the seven year old had just experienced some kind of mental breakdown, matter of fact it probably wasn't even over, the dark skinned pirate captain, who was currently struggling to get to his feet, looked fearful of him. And as he got to his feet, stumbling back a bit as he did so, his wide, frightened eyes, were soon filled with scorn and hate, just as they had been before. "I don't know what kind of monster you are brat, but whatever you just did won't save you, I won't allow you to do to me what you did to these weak fools." As he said this, his hate and anger shone through his tone, just as his fear did.

He bent down and retrieved the weapon he had dropped, his rifle, before standing back up, almost stumbling once more as he did. "I'll kill you now, before you can get older, and grow to become an even bigger monster. Even if your existence doesn't threaten mine now, one day it will, so I'll save myself the trouble, and snuff your life out right now!"

He now stood before the bodies of the two children he had mercilessly killed, as well as the all but catatonic Luffy, and leveled the barrel of his gun right between young child's eyes. "Now die!" With that he fired on the seven year old at point blank range.

However, instead of the bullet going into his head, ripping through his skull and coming out again, killing him in the process, like the pirate captain had intended, something much different happened. The tiny piece of metal hit him in the forehead, but instead of it tearing through the skin, the skin gave way to it, causing the small object to push the flesh inward, doing so for roughly two inches, before the skin pushed back, flinging the bullet back at the one who had fired it.

The bullet came flying back up at the dark skinned man, though the trajectory wasn't the same as when it had been fired, so it scraped the side of the barrel of his gun, and grazed the side of his face, taking just a bit of flesh with it as it did, leaving him with a small cut on his face. As it began to bleed, he slowly, almost shaking as he did, raised his left hand and placed it on his face, as if he found he wasn't hurt, that it would dispel the illusion of his bullet bouncing back at him. But when he did, his hand made contact with the sticky red substance, which confirmed for the now wide eyed man, that his metal projectile had indeed been flung back at him.

The young boy he had just tried to kill, felt a severe stinging sensation when he was shot, and the feeling got him to raise his head, doing so just enough to see what had happened, and when his eye fell upon the man's face, they stayed there for several moments. When their eyes met, the young child's face changed, becoming distorted with hate and rage, and as it did, Bluejam's fear grew to new heights, as he was now terrified of this boy, as despite his young age, the look on his face was almost demonic to the captain's eyes. He unconsciously took a step back, his body, despite his best efforts, betraying him in this regard and showing that he was horrified, his tone doing the same as he spoke. "I was wrong, you're no monster, y-you-you're a demon!"

Bluejam might as well have been speaking gibberish, as at this point, despite the fact that the young child could see his lips moving, all he heard was white noise, as the images of his best friends lying in small pools of their own blood continuously flashed in his mind. He began to speak, his voice quivering as all of his emotions were channeled into his words, "This...this is your fault, you did this! This is all your fault! You're the reason this happened! You killed them, you killed them! I...I-I, I HATE YOU!" He shouted this at the top of his lungs, forcing himself to his feet and rushing the pirate as he did so.

He threw himself at the much older man, knocking him off balance, and causing him to fall back onto the ground. The moment his back made contact with the ground, the seven year old began to rapidly and repeatedly ram his fists into the man's face, hitting him as hard and as fast as he possibly could, screaming in sorrow, hate and rage as he did so, "It's all because of you! They're gone forever, all because of you and that stupid treasure you want! You killed them for stupid money! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"

In spite of his small size, the young child managed to pound on the dark skinned man for about a minute, without a single attempt of the man's managing to successfully dislodge him, of which he made many. Once that minute was over, he stopped punching the man, breathing heavily as he said, "For what you've done...you should just die." And despite the kid's history of overreacting during certain instances, this was one time when he meant exactly what he said, he felt Bluejam deserved to die for what he had done.

Said pirate captain was still conscious, though barely, as his face was bloodied, bruised and somewhat broken. His nose had been broken, blood now leaking from his nostrils, a few of his teeth had been knocked out, the sticky red substance filling and leaking out of his mouth, his head had been busted open, his entire forehead covered in the red life liquid, his left eye socket was broken, a very nasty bruise quickly forming, and his jaw was cracked, he could feel it, as pain shot through his face with the slightest twitch of movement of said cracked bone.

What the seven year old would have done next would remain unknown, as Bluejam, in spite of his fear of the 'boy' who was on top of his chest, let his anger, greed and hate override his other emotions once more, as he reached out for and grabbed ahold of a discarded sword from one of his unconscious crewmates. Before he could use the weapon though, the sound of a gasp could be heard, prompting both of them to look to where it came from, behind the child who was on top of the pirate, to see Nami's eyes open and wide, as she began to choke on her own blood, it beginning to spill out of her mouth as she did.

Luffy's eyes widened to the max once more, the boy stumbling as he got off of the pirate captain laid out on the ground, before he rushed to his orange haired friend's side once more. "NAMI!"

Even though his medical knowledge was rather close to nil, the straw hat boy could clearly see what the problem was, and solved it by raising the young girl's upper body off the ground, bringing her to a sitting position, where she proceeded to cough up the very blood she was choking on, clearing her airway and allowing her to get some of the life saving oxygen she needed, taking it in with a single lungful, as she passed out, losing consciousness once more. "It's okay Nami, it'll all be okay, I promise! I told you I'd save you, and I will! I won't let you down!" His tears had picked back up again as he said this to the once more unconscious girl.

That's when he noticed, out of the corner of his right eye, Zoro's right hand twitch, doing so two or three times, before it went still once more. As he saw this, the boy's tears came even faster, though they weren't ones of despair or sorrow any longer. Both of his best friends were alive! This was fantastic!

At the same time, Bluejam had risen to his feet, closed the distance between him and the one he called demon, and was prepared to strike him down with his blade. The black haired child's back was turned as the threat of death loomed behind him, the man thrusting his blade downward to end the boy's life. Just before the blade could make contact, it coming down on his head, something appeared in it's path, blocking it with a loud clang. This drew both Luffy's and Bluejam's attention to the one who had stopped him, the noise alerting the young boy as to something going on behind him.

There, standing on either side of him, were two women, one was large, bulky and had orange hair, and the other was average sized, slender and had red hair, the former held an axe, using it to keep the blade from reaching Luffy, while the latter held a rifle, using it to keep the sword away from the young boy as well. Seeing them caused Luffy's eyes to light up with hope, "Dadan! Bellemere!"

Both women wore scowls on their faces, however, while Dadan looked angry, Bellemere was obviously pissed, the fury burning brightly in her eyes, while at the same time tears were falling from them. The two mother figures then proceeded to cry...

Dadan, "Keep away from Luffy, you sea cretin!"

Bellemere, "Stay away from them, you damned bastard!"

The two women then pushed the man back with their weapons, forcing him to stumble several feet back, where he would have tripped and fallen over Ace's unconscious form, if Magra wasn't holding him, having scooped him up when all the attention was on the two women, Dogra and the rest of the mountain bandits by his side. They moved away from the pirate captain as he regained his balance, keeping himself from falling over, his anger intensifying upon the sight of all these other people. "Who the hell are all of you!?"

Not one of the bandits looked brave enough to answer, their silence and physical stances showed their fright of this man, which is exactly why they followed the next order from their boss to the T. "All of you, take Ace and get the hell outta here!" With a nod from them all, they took off running, back the way they came, Magra holding Ace to him tightly, so as to keep the flames from getting at him.

With them gone, Bluejam's anger was directed straight at the two women in front of him, "I'll ask again, who the hell do you think you are, interfering with my business!?"

Dadan's scowl grew at those words, her eyes on the dark skinned pirate.

Bellemere's attention however, wasn't on the pirate, it was on Luffy, who was cradling her daughter protectively, her blood covering his hands and neck, with some of it on his chest as well. Just like her, Luffy was crying, and as their eyes met, he spoke, "I tried to keep them safe, I tried so hard...but instead, I was the one protected. Zoro took a sword for me, and I...I...I don't know what happened. The next thing I knew, Nami had been shot, and she was bleeding, so much. I...I couldn't protect Nami...I failed her, I failed them both." The broken tone of his, only served the break her heart into tinier pieces than it was already in, her tears beginning to come even faster.

Then, a small, hopeful smile crossed the young boy's face, though it wasn't anywhere near the size of his regular grin. "But they're still alive, Nami's still breathing, I just helped her get some air. And Zoro just moved, they're both still alive, I can still save them!" As he said this, he rose to his feet, taking Nami up with him, holding her bridal style. "I will save them!"

The former marine let a small, almost sad smile appear on her face, as she said, "I know you will, now go Luffy, save Nami...save my daughter...save them both."

Luffy nodded hard, before turning to Zoro, and lifting him up off the ground, and placing him on his back, in a piggyback like style. It took some effort, but the straw hat boy managed to make it work. However, before he could run off, Bluejam charged in, going straight for the young children, Bellemere and Dadan intercepting him once more, blocking his sword with their weapons, both of them exclaiming this as they did so, "Don't even think about it!"

With the danger being kept at bay, Luffy took off, though to the left rather than in the direction of the mountain bandits, mainly because Bluejam was blocking that way at this point. However, with enough luck, he should be able to find his way back to the mountains.

The two women shoved the man back once more, him stumbling a little less than last time. He snarled at the two at this point, before glancing to his right, spotting another blade, and picking it up. Now dual wielding blades, he had no intention of being thrown back again, he was going to fight to the death, no backing down. He was, after all, determined to kill the demon brat, get the treasure, have his revenge and get the hell of this shitty island, so as to make his comeback.

Seeing his gaze intensify, both women knew this had just become a life or death battle, someone would die here. Only one of them had any kind of interest in such a battle though..."Go on, I can see it in your eyes, you want out of this situation, so go ahead and take off."

Dadan glanced to her right, to Bellemere, as she was spoken to, but quickly brought her eyes back to Bluejam, as she didn't trust him nearly as far as she could throw him, as he would no doubt attack the very moment they became distracted. "You're right, I won't deny it. However this parasite tried to kill my boys."

"I know that, but here today you almost lost two children...I almost lost two, as well as two nephews. Besides, you've no interest in a fight, you only care that this bastard gets what's coming to him, isn't that right...Dadan?"

"You got roped into being that wild boy's mother as well did you? Though I suppose you're lucky that Ace is only a nephew to you, as he's just as wild. As for the situation at hand...once more you're right, but I don't think that little brat would ever forgive me if I abandoned you to fight all alone."

"Don't worry, Luffy doesn't need to know. Besides, I prefer it this way, I want to fight this scum on my own."

The large woman snorted at that, "Have it your way then, but don't blame me if you get yourself killed." With those words she took off, heading in the same direction as her fellow bandits. Bluejam of course tried to attack her, but Bellemere got in the way, blocking him off, as well as catching his swords with her rifle, allowing the boss mountain bandit to escape the area.

As the large woman disappeared from his sight, Bluejam growled at the only person left in the vicinity. Bellemere in return, let a fierce expression come upon her face, as she spoke, "You wanted to know who I was? I'll tell you then! I'm Bellemere, ex-marine captain, and the mother of two, no, three wonderful children, two of whom you just tried to kill! You put a bullet in my daughter, and mentally traumatized the boy, who no matter who his real mother may be, is a son to me! For that, I will make you pay!"

With that said, the red head forced the pirate back, though with him ready to battle to death, and without Dadan's help, she was only able to make him go back a total of two steps. That was more than enough, as she was still able to take advantage and attack, slamming the butt of her rifle into the two sword wielding man's gut, causing him to hunch over slightly and grunt in pain. As he did so, Bellemere wasted no time in taking aim and preparing to fire, before she could though, he shoved the flat of the blades of his swords against the bottom of the barrel, pushing the weapon up, standing erect once more as he did, throwing the trajectory of the bullet as the gun was fired way off, causing the former marine to shoot into the air.

Even though she was taken off guard by this, the twenty nine year old woman still had reflexes fast enough to jump back and avoid the harm coming to her, as after throwing her trajectory off, the pirate captain had attempted to slash downward with his two sharp weapons. She landed firmly on her feet less than seven feet from the dual wielding pirate, lowering her weapon back to the standard firing position, and prepared to take another shot as she did so.

At the same time, Bluejam advanced upon her, closing the distance between them before she could pull the trigger, and going for another double slash, though this time one blade going one way, and the other the opposite way. She avoided this attack as well, sidestepping twice in quick succession to her left, before she could try and capitalize on the fact he had just missed her though, he brought his blades together and spun a hundred and eighty degrees to his right. This forced the red head to turn and jump back, then sidestep, turn and jump back once more, keeping her away from the sharp pieces of metal, and putting her directly behind him. She had just managed to do this without his weapons touching her once.

Now behind him, she wasted no time in attacking once more, though she knew by the time she was ready to fire he'd have attacked her again, so she chose a different method of attack. She flipped her weapon upside down, gripped it by the barrel with both hands, brought it back and swung it, ramming it into the side of the dark skinned man's head as hard as she could, while at the same time kicking his legs out from underneath him, causing him to yelp in pain as he went down, slamming into the ground with the right side of his head, his left side having been the one hit with the rifle turned blunt object.

Before he could try and get up, the former marine kicked him in the back, rolling him over onto his stomach. From there he began trying to get up anyway, but was stopped once on all fours, as the ex-marine kicked him in the side as hard as she could, breaking a few of his ribs, causing him to bite his tongue so he wouldn't yelp again, and knocking him over onto his back. From there she stomped down on his injured leg, causing him to yelp in pain once more regardless of him biting down on his tongue. She kept her foot there, before taking aim at his uninjured leg, and firing, blowing out his kneecap with a bullet, blood quickly staining his pants, causing him to cry out because of the pain.

She however, despite the pain he was in, felt no sympathy for him, for what he had done, he deserved much worse. She didn't have nearly enough time to give it to him though. So she took her foot off his leg, stepped to where she was standing directly over him, and leveled the barrel of her weapon right between his eyes, her finger on the trigger, ready to fire and end the life of this worthless piece of trash.

Staring down at his bloody face, his breathing ragged as he stared right back, completely defenseless against whatever she decided to do to him, completely at her mercy, she felt doubt creep into her mind. Yet it was quickly banished, as the image of her daughter dying in her best friend's arms flashed in her mind, reminding her that this bastard deserved far worse than this. However that moment of hesitation was all Bluejam needed, as before she could fire, he had brought his blades up and, crossing them like an x, used them like a large pair of scissors to slice some of the front of the barrel off of the rifle, rendering it useless.

The red head's eyes widened at this, but before she could handle the situation, the pirate captain drew his less injured leg up to his chest, and kicked out, ramming his foot into the twenty nine year old's abdomen with all his might, causing her to nearly double over, spitting up just a bit of blood from the force of the blow as she did. The dark skinned man then shot up from the waist up, slamming his head into hers as hard as he could, causing her to jerk upwards a bit, as she stumbled backward a few steps, grunting in pain as she did. The pirate then dropped one of his blades, reaching out afterwards and grabbing ahold of one of his female opponent's legs, and pulling it out from underneath her, causing her to fall back onto her back on to the ground.

He then quickly lunged at her, throwing himself on top of her, intending to drive his sword down into her throat, and end this battle. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't going down without a fight, as just before the tip of the blade could make contact with her vulnerable neck, she grabbed ahold of the steel with both of her hands, keeping it from going down even another inch. He used all of his strength to continue to push the sword downward, just as she used every bit of her strength to keep it from moving towards her at all, and since that was the case, they were locked in a stalemate.

This deadlock continued for neither side knew how long, but about a little over a dozen moments since it began, just as her palms began to bleed from the man atop of her trying to twist his cutlass, the red head spotted his discarded rifle, which he had dropped when Luffy attacked him, not that she knew that. It was within reach, and would only take a moment to grab, however she knew that moment was crucial, and could cost her her life. So she had to bide her time, keep the blade away from her throat, and wait for him to slip up.

Thankfully she didn't have to wait long, as he grew so frustrated, that eventually he somehow tightened his grip on his blade, pulled it away from her, bringing it high over his head, as he screamed, "I won't be beaten by some demon brat and a washed up marine cunt! NOW DIE!"

As he did this, Bellemere reached out for and grabbed ahold of the rifle, before aiming directly at him, putting the barrel of the weapon directly under his chin, an definite kill shot. As he brought down his blade, her trigger finger was already doing what it was trained to do. "You're the one who'll die today, you sunuva bitch!" As the trigger was pulled, the pirate captain's blade dug into his female enemy's left shoulder, while at the same time the bullet raced out of the barrel, pierced the man's skin, tearing through his jaw upwards into his brain, before ripping it's way through that and out the upper back of his head, successfully blowing his brains out and ending his life in an instant.

Bluejam's eyes were glazed over, as he fell back off of the red head, his grip on the cutlass no longer existing, and onto the ground, his blood beginning to pool around his cranium. He was finally dead.

Bellemere was panting as she lied there for another moment, the sword that had been planted in her shoulder sticking out. She dropped the rifle, before reaching over with her right hand and removing it, letting out a cry of pain as she did so. Tossing aside the bloody blade, she pulled herself to her feet, grunting in pain as she did so, her right hand going to her left shoulder to put pressure on the wound, so as to keep herself from losing too much blood. She continued to put pressure on the wound, as she turned and headed off into the fire, in the same direction Luffy had run off with Nami and Zoro, not even sparing a single glance to Bluejam's body as she did so.

* * *

Luffy didn't know what to do, he had no idea where to go, the only way he knew to get back to the mountains was blocked off by burning junk, one of the piles having collapsed before he could pass by it. And although he didn't think there'd be much help there, he even tried for Goa, but the pathway to the gate was blocked by burning trash as well. Though this barricade of burning objects was there when he got there, rather than falling over before he reached it.

So at this point he was wandering aimlessly in the burning trash heap, the fire creeping ever closer, threatening to consume him and his two unconscious friends. He was hurting, having been burned all over, though thankfully nothing as serious as third degree, he was also inhaling way too much smoke, his lungs beginning to burn something fierce. Hell, he didn't even have a bearing on his surroundings, as with all the twists and turns he had been making, as well as with all the smoke and fire, he was hopelessly lost by now.

Nevertheless, as all of this was happening, he couldn't help but wonder aloud to himself, even if for nothing else but to keep his mind off of the fact his best friends were dying, doing so in a somewhat hoarse voice, "I wonder if everyone here made it out of the fire okay? I sure hope they did..."

That's when the sound of something that sounded like an explosion caught his attention, it coming from somewhere directly ahead of him, though he hadn't seen anything. "Another bomb? But why would it go off now?"

Not bothering to think about it, as he didn't have the time, and he just didn't want to, he rushed off in the direction he heard the 'explosion' come from, hoping against all hope that there might be someway out of here wherever it took place at. However, not long after, he came to a dead end, the fire blocking his path completely, so he was forced to give up on checking out what had happened in the distance. But as he turned around, another pile of junk came tumbling down, barely missing him as it did, blocking off the path back, trapping him and his two friend's in a small circle, barely big enough for two grown men to stand in.

Luffy's eyes widened a great deal as this happened, "No...no...I was so close, I almost had them out! I could have saved them! This isn't right! This isn't fair!" He fell to his knees at this point.

All hope fled the young boy, as the fire continued to creep closer, the flames just centimeters from beginning to lick him and his friends. His tears returned, as he didn't see a way out of this. His only real option was to go straight through the flames, but that wasn't much of an option, now was it? What if the fire hurt Zoro and Nami? It could make it harder to save them, if not impossible. Then again, it was better than sitting here and doing nothing, wasn't it? The young raven haired boy had no idea, he just didn't know! Could they still be saved if he tried to rush them through the fire?

That's when Zoro's and Nami's words from before repeated themselves in his mind...

_"B-be-because...yo-you-you're my be-best...f-fri-friend."_

_"Luffy...I don't want to die...please...save me..."_

With those words beginning to echo inside of his head, the seven year old forced himself to his feet, forcing all those thoughts to the back of his head, as his resolve strengthened. "I have to try! I have to try! I have to try! NO! There is no trying! No matter what, I have to save them!"

The young child's eyes hardened, as he moved forward into the fire, and began to sprint through the flames as fast as he possibly could. "Just hold on guys! I'll save you, I swear!"

* * *

Luffy wasn't sure how long he ran through the very flames themselves, as all he was focused on was moving, knowing that this fire could kill his friends in the matter of moments, but it didn't really matter. All that did matter, was that eventually he came out of the fire, and into a flame clear section of the Gray Terminal, though it was completely messed up. Stopping a moment to catch his breath, his breathing very ragged, he looked at the area. Something had carved a huge pathway through the junk, leading to the shore, where the shadow of a boat loomed. Seeing this, Luffy's hope swelled, and despite how exhausted he was, how short on breath he was, how much his lungs burned, how much of his vision was beginning to fade, and the fact that every step he took hurt his entire body, he began rush out to the huge shadow, hoping, praying, to anyone who would listen, that there was someone there who could save his friends.

* * *

A man stood at the bow of the ship at the shore, looking out into the huge burning trash heap. He wore an all black outfit with a green cloak over it, the hood put up over his head, he stood over six feet, had long, spiky black hair in a widows peak hairstyle, as well as some light stubble, but what stood out the most about the man, was the large tribal like, dark red tattoo on the left side of his face.

After a few moments, a second and third man walked up from behind him, one stopping three feet behind him, and the other stopping right beside him.

The second man, the one behind him, was a humongous man, standing at a little over twenty two feet tall. He had long, somewhat poofy black hair, and milky white eyes. He wore a huge, as it had to be to fit him, black jacket, with a white design similar to a cross hair, as well as white paws at the bottom of it, a pair of white pants with small black spots all over them, as well as a white hat with rounded ears, also covered in black spots, and over all that, he wore a brown cloak, the hood of which he had over his head. He also wore large black shoes.

The third man, the one beside him, was also a large man, larger than the first at least, though not nearly as large as the second. Thanks to him wearing his brown cloak so closed, one couldn't see what he was wearing, however his face was visible. He had a a large head, with a large bluish purple afro to go along with it, as well as long eyelashes. He wore, what appeared to be, makeup on his face, two large black mascara designs around his face, and purple lipstick. He, just as with the other two men, wore the hood of his cloak over his head.

The second man was the first to speak, "Dragon, the last of the refugees have boarded. We're ready to go on your order."

The third followed up the second's words, "We should be on our way, we've done what we came to do, haven't we Dragon?"

Dragon was silent at that question, but only for a few moments, "Yes Ivankov, we're done here. Prepare to set sail." As he said this, he turned to face all of his men.

Ivankov nodded his head, before turning as well, so as to give the order, however, just before he could, the second man spoke up once more, "Wait, there are children coming this way."

The second largest man spun around at those words, his eyes wide as he asked incredulously, "Children!?

Dragon let a scowl cross his face at those words, turning to face the burning junk piles once more, as he asked, "Where are they Kuma?"

Kuma raised one of his giant hands and pointed out at the path they had carved into the Gray Terminal, where a small child, who was carrying two other children, was lumbering their way. They were close, less than twenty feet from the ship, but they were so small, and since everyone was preoccupied, no one had noticed them.

They watched as the one carrying the other two continued to struggle, to push onward, despite the fact that his strength was obviously going to give out at any moment. He made it several more feet, before collapsing, the three landing on the ground in a small heap. Since this was the case, the leader of the group, Dragon, gave this order, "Kuma, retrieve them."

With a nod of his head, the humongous man disappeared.

* * *

Luffy's movements were sluggish at this point, as with everything that was already wrong with him, the adrenaline had finally faded, making it all that much worse. However, in spite of the fact that his eyelids were drooping, and he was worse off than ever before, he lumbered onward toward the boat, as he was close, so close, less than twenty feet from the large ship. "Don't worry guys, I'll get you some help, I'll save you. We're almost there, just a few more feet, and we'll be home free. You guys will be okay, I promise." Even as he said this, he continued to move forward, his lumbering quickly turning to stumbling, before finally, his legs gave out on him, and he collapsed.

The young straw hat boy made sure not to land on Nami as he did this, though he barely succeeded in doing so. His eyes were open all the way once more, as the pain of hitting the ground took him out of his groggy state, though it wouldn't be long before it returned. His head rested on Nami's chest, his breathing even raggedier than it had been before, his lungs still burning, and now hurting, with every breath. "Come on, I can't stop now...help is so close...it's just a bit farther. I only have to go a bit farther...and then...Nami and Zoro can be saved." As he finished saying this aloud to himself, he raised head off of the orange haired girl's chest, as he began forcing himself to his knees, not being able to use his arms to help him up, as they were still cradling Nami.

Just as he reached his knees, a humongous man appeared before him, but instead of experiencing fear like any sane person, especially a child, does upon seeing him, only hope and anxiousness were felt by the seven year old. "I don't know...who you are, but please...please, I'm begging you, please help my friends!" As he grovelled before this gigantic man, tears were once again racing down his face, while he continued to try and force his body onto it's feet.

"They're hurt, they're dying! You've gotta save'em! Their precious to me! They mean more to me than anything! I can't live without them, please...you have to...YOU HAVE TO SAVE THEM!" He still persisted in trying to force himself to his feet, even as he cried these words out at the top of his lungs, despite how much pain he was in for doing so.

Kuma stared directly down at the small boy as he begged of him this, keeping silent until he was finished. "You have my word, we will save them." After saying this, he reached down, and ever so gently scooped the three children up, doing so with only one hand, his right hand, while speaking as he did so, "I can see that you've done all you could and more for these two, you can stop fighting now, you can rest, you've earned it."

With that the four disappeared.

* * *

As Kuma reappeared before them, Dragon and Ivankov eyed him with interest, more specifically his hand, where the three children were located at. He lowered his hand to the deck of the ship, and gently laid the children onto it, careful not to bring any harm to them as he did so. Once they could be clearly scene, Dragon's eyes widened, just as Ivankov's did, though for two different reasons.

Ivankov's eyes widened even further than they had before, doing so because of the condition of the three children. The green haired one had a stab wound on his abdomen, having lost a lot of his blood from it at this point, as well as a few first degree burns. The orange haired one was covered in blood, just as the other two were, and upon closer inspection had a bullet hole in her chest. And finally, the one wearing a straw hat, his entire was covered in second degree burns, his skin red with blisters at this point, though a good deal of that was covered by the blood on him, his neck, hands, chest and back were covered in it, his face even had streaks of it going down it. Somehow his straw hat was completely untouched though, while it did have a bit of blood on it, there wasn't any actual damage to it.

Luffy's eyes found Dragon's, despite the fact that they were half lidded, and he was just moments away from passing out. And as they made eye contact, he pleaded once more for the lives of his friends. "Save them...please..." Finally, after so much struggling, the young straw hat boy passed out, losing consciousness right there on the deck of the ship.

All eyes were on the three children, however all of them went to Dragon, as he said one word aloud, "Luffy..."

Ivankov was the one to ask, "You know this kid Dragon?"

The only one of them with a green cloak didn't answer that question right away, but after a few moments, he finally spoke, "He's my son..."

Ivankov's eyes somehow managed to widen even further, and despite the fact that they were supposed to be stealthy during this mission, he couldn't help but cry out at the top of his lungs, "YOU'RE SON!? YOU HAVE A SON!?" Only a nod of confirmation was received at that loud ass question.

The large headed man, after getting over his shock and disbelief, chuckled, as he said, "That makes sense I guess. I mean after all, who else but your kid would fight tooth and nail, as well as wade through all this fire, just to get his friends some help. He takes after you, even if only a little."

Kuma nodded his head in agreement at that, "Indeed, he does."

Dragon remained silent at their words, being deathly quiet for a moment or so, before giving another order, much more bark to his voice this time as he did. "Give them the medical treatment they so desperately need, now."

* * *

A few hours later...

As Luffy's eyes opened, he couldn't help but grimace in pain, as he hurt everywhere. It wasn't the worst physical pain he had ever felt, but it was a bitch nevertheless. He sat up, noticing he was back in Dadan's hut as he did so, noticing the fact that he was once again covered from head to toe in bandages as well. Letting his eyes wander the room, he took notice of Nami and Zoro as well, both lying on the floor, but on a pallet of pillows and blankets, just as he was, the former had bandages around her chest, while the latter had them all over his torso, and both of them were unconscious. However they were both clearly breathing, and that was all that mattered, so the young boy couldn't help but feel joy fill his being, as he finally knew his friends would be okay.

That's when the sound of Ace's voice caught his attention, "WHAT!?"

Not sure what was going on, the seven year old, who was still wearing his straw hat, got up and stumbled out of the room, not bothering to close the door to the room as he did so, into the main room, where Ace, who had bandages wrapped around the top half of his head, Garp, Bellemere, who had bandages wrapped around her left shoulder, Dadan, Magra, Dogra and the rest of the bandits were.

The oldest of the bunch then spoke, apparently repeating himself, not noticing Luffy had entered the room as he did so. "You heard what I said, Sabo is dead." Despite his words, his tone was a mixture of sadness, regret, and gentleness, the last part to try and soften the blow of the news, though it didn't help in the slightest.

Luffy's eyes widened a great deal, tears beginning to well up as they did, as he spoke aloud, his tone showing his disbelief, "Wh-what?"

All eyes, except for Ace's, went to the seven year old, all of them not wanting him to find out like this.

Ace still seemed to be processing what he had been told, as he tried to speak, but couldn't get the words out for several moments. "Wha-what!? When...how did this happen!?"

Garp couldn't look either of the boys in the eyes as he spoke once more, having to look away, to his right and down at the ground as he did. "He was out at sea when...his boat crossed paths with the ship of the Celestial Dragon who was coming to inspect the kingdom today. As soon as he was noticed, they fired upon his boat, and after only two shots, it was completely destroyed, taking Sabo down along with it. There...there wasn't anything left of him. Only his hat remained, and it was washed out to sea before I could get ahold of it. I'm sorry boys."

Those words shook both of the boys, the older one of them so much so that he quickly denied the truth. "That's not true! It's a lie! You're lying!"

Garp, despite not feeling up to it, looked back at his grandsons once more, as he needed them to understand that this was real. "I wouldn't lie to you two about something like this, you know that."

"Shut up!" Ace shouted in rage, his fists clenched as he nearly shook with anger. "Sabo went back to his noble born parents! There's no way he would sail out to sea!"

Luffy however wasn't so sure about such reasoning, "Bu-but Sabo, h-he hated his life with them."

Ace's fury was turned onto Luffy at those words, looking ready to pound him for speaking them. "You don't get to talk! You've no idea how anything works, so just keep quiet!" In fact, he had his armed cocked back, and had closed the distance between them at this point.

"Wake up! I know it hurts, but trapping yourself in denial won't help anyone! You know this is the truth, and no matter how much it hurts, you have to accept it! Sabo is gone! Don't turn on the only brother you have left in your grief and anger!" It was none other than Bellemere who yelled this at the ten year old, bringing his attention to her, lowering his fist as he did, as while he was still pissed, he knew she was right, as he never wanted to hurt Luffy ever again.

As the bitter truth finally suck in, Luffy broke own into sobs, tears coming down his face once again. While Ace began to actually shake in anger, he asked this, "Who was it who did this, who murdered Sabo!? I'm going to kill them!"

"You foolish brat, you can't kill a Celestial Dragon, it'll only-"

Ace didn't care for what Dadan had to say, as she had told him what he needed to know, so didn't wait for her to finish, before he turned and headed for the door. However, before he could reach it, the large woman rushed him from behind, tackling him to the floor and ramming his face into it, shattering some of the wood and causing him to bleed from his forehead once more. "Listen to me and drop it, you damn brat!" The large mountain bandit boss had to keep the ten year old's head down as she shouted this at him, as he was fighting as hard as he could, trying to the best of his ability, to throw her off of him and get to his feet.

"Get off of me!" Ace screamed as blood ran down his face. "Don't get in my way!"

"You keep acting tough, even though you don't have any real strength!" Dadan yelled as she pushed the ten year old's face further into the floor. "What the hell do you think you can do as you are now!? You'll just end up dead! You will die and everyone will forget about you by tomorrow! That is all you amount to right now! It was this kingdom that killed Sabo! It was the very world itself! What can you possibly do about that!? NOTHING! That's what! Your Father's death brought about a new era! Once you have become a man of that caliber, then, and only then, are you free to live and die as you like!"

Ace's eyes widened in anger and realization, as he could no longer deny the truth of her words. "Tie this moron up!" The large woman ordered this done, as she stood and threw Ace to her men. They quickly followed her order, beginning to tie him up in that very room, him doing his best to fight back, but unable to successfully escape the grasp of all the bandits.

Luffy was still crying his eyes out, deeply upset over his loss, his attention on no one and nothing except for the floor, everything that had happened in the past twenty four hours racing through his mind over and over again. As these events continued to flash in his mind in a repeated cycle, he spoke aloud, mostly to himself, but also partially to everyone in the room before him. "This al-all hap-happened because w-we were too weak! If we had been stronger...if I had been stronger, I could have stopped them from taking Sabo, I could have stopped them from stabbing Zoro, I could have stopped them from shooting Nami, I could have kept them all safe, I could have protected them! But I'm weak, so it doesn't matter!"

The young straw hat boy looked back to the room he had come out of, the open door allowing him to see Zoro and Nami, though he could only see the latter's face, while he could only see the former's hair. He then turned back to Garp and Bellemere, before taking a few steps towards them and falling to his knees, as he cried, he began to speak, "Dadan, Ace, Bellemere, Grandpa, I...I want, no, I have to become stronger! Stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, and even stronger than that! And then, I'll be able protect Nami and Zoro, and anyone else I want! That way, I'll never have to watch anyone disappear ever again!"

The fierce determination in the seven year old's eyes moved both Garp and Bellemere greatly. The latter of whom couldn't help but think back to something the former had said to her back when they were in the marines together...

* * *

_"Bell, when do you think a boy becomes a man?"_

_The red head quirked an eyebrow at that question, which Garp had asked with a large smirk on his face. "If I didn't know you better, then I'd think this was the setup for some kind of sex joke."_

_The marine hero burst into laughter at that, not calming enough to speak for several moments. "No, no, nothing quite like that."_

_His smirk widened even further, as he proceeded to, without prompting, as he never needed it, or got it, to explain what he was talking about. "You see Bell, a boy doesn't become a man because he grows older, or when he's finally become intimate with a woman, or even when he gains strength, no, a boy only becomes a man when he has found something to protect."_

_The marine captain was genuinely surprised by her superior's words, "I see. But, what brought this up?"_

_Chuckling a bit, getting a few more laughs out before everything went back to business, he said, "Nothing in particular. Just thinking about a few family matters, that's all."_

* * *

Upon recalling this, the ex-marine turned to look at her old friend, where she saw that the same large smirk that had been splitting his face that day, was once more upon his mug, his eyes soft and full of pride for his grandson. It only took a moment for him to notice Bellemere looking at him, and when he did, he glanced over at her, as he did so, she offered him a smile in return, as they both knew that they were thinking about the day they had spoken of such a thing as this.

* * *

Little did anyone know, that a certain green haired swordsman trainee had been awake the entire time, and had heard every word that had been said.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	9. The Departure

DarkPirateKing69: You're quite right, as it's very rare that important characters die in my stories, mind you that I'm not saying it never happens, I'm just saying it barely ever does. Thank you, I too thought it would be a cool way to introduce those three, and I do indeed have interesting interactions planned with them for later on. And as for looking forward to the next chapter, well, here it is. :)

F-ckthesystem125: Indeed it was. As for Dragon and his men, well they left, and the exact details of what happened, well I'm going to wait a little while before I show just what happened before they left. Don't get it twisted though, it isn't some kind of big surprise or anything, I just feel like waiting awhile before the exact details are revealed. And you are indeed right about everything taking shape, as this chapter finishes the molding for their big adventure.

midnightscar17: Thanks. Well, I'll tell you this at least, someone met Dragon before he left, but it wasn't Garp. As for Sabo...well who said he's alive...? Nah, I'm just fucking with ya, everyone knows he's still alive. Again, Garp didn't even see Dragon or his men before they left, so he wouldn't have found out about them rescuing Sabo. As for any further developments on Dragon, Kuma and Ivankov...well you'll just have to wait and see. And finally, for Luffy and Nami becoming a couple, well...they're eight, so...yeah.

Finally, here it is, the last chapter of their childhoods. That means next chapter is when Cannon starts rolling out. Now then, please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Ace, Bellemere, Nojiko and Kuina were all inside of the red head's house, all of them sat around the dining table, eating the meal the thirty year old had made. And even though it had been almost an entire year since the Gray Terminal fire, the anniversary of said horrific event being only two days away, all of these individuals either had large smiles on their faces, Kuina, or were in stitches, laughing their heads off at something funny that Luffy had just done, everyone else. Said hilarious action involved sticking chopsticks up his nose and acting like, who knows why, a walrus. Then, when Bellemere thwacked the young boy on the head with her ladle, which she always had with her during meal time specifically for things as this, as despite her finding them funny as well, she felt he really needed to learn some table manners, all the ones laughing began to do so even harder and louder, and it finally got Kuina to join the rowdy bunch in said fit of laughter.

The reason they were all gathered in Bellemere's house and having such a good time, was because they were currently in the middle of celebrating Nami's eighth birthday, the cake on the counter to the side of the table.

As they continued to celebrate, the food was soon cleared from their plates, and cake was served, after the candles had been blown out and the wish had been made of course. But no sooner than Bellemere sat back down, there was a knock at the door. So before she took her first bite, she got back up to answer it. When she opened the door and saw who it was, she quirked an eyebrow and asked this of them, her tone a little playful, mostly sarcastic, and even a little questioning thrown into it for good measure. "You just love crashing children's birthday parties, don't you?"

All the children's eyes went to the person at the door then, where they saw Garp standing, a face slitting grin across his mug. And like last time his grandsons were the first of the kids to react, though this time his presence elicited a very different reaction from Ace and Luffy.

The eleven year old sighed heavily, dropping his fork down back down onto his plate as he did, even though he had just been a centimeter away from stuffing it into his mouth, a large bite of cake on it, though it didn't matter to him at this point, as everything he had just eaten would be barfed up, as with Garp here he knew that he and his brother were in for another training session. "And I didn't even get to finish my cake, damn it." Not for the first time, the raven haired preteen couldn't help but ask himself, "Exactly why did I agree to take even extra tough, more like brutal, training sessions than I had to before, willingly, without even arguing about it, or running for it?"

That's of course when his eyes found Luffy, the young boy pouting as he knew he wouldn't get to finish his dessert, and upon seeing him, Ace had his answer. "Oh yeah, that's right. I did it to make sure he didn't kill Luffy, since the little idiot insisted on having Gramps be even harder, more like crueler, to him than ever before, so as to make sure he got stronger."

Ace's attention was once more pulled to Garp, as he entered the house, without permission, and began speaking, "I've got great news Bell!"

As he said this, far too loudly than was needed, she closed the door and put her self in front of him again. "And just what is it? Must be something big if you forced your way in here, since you know how much I hate that." There was an underlying threat in her tone, which usually would have made the man go pale, however in this instance he didn't, so she knew she was right about it being big.

His grin managed to get even wider as he spoke once again, "You're home free."

"Excuse me?"

"I handled it, you three can go home now! Everything's been sorted, you're good to go!"

While Nojiko's immediate reaction was a shout of excitement, Nami and Bellemere both had uncertainty written all over their faces. While it was true they missed Cocayashi, they were worried for Luffy and didn't want to leave, in addition, Bellemere also didn't want to force Nami to leave her best friend behind. But they forced smiles and acted excited, though they were to a certain degree, as they did miss everyone back home.

Luffy too also had to force a smile, as he was saddened greatly that Nami was going to be leaving.

Zoro forced nothing, he wore the scowl of his disapproval openly, and not only because of what was happening.

Nevertheless, by the end of the day, it was decided when they would leave for Cocoyashi. Despite Garp's protests, Bellemere had decided she and her girls would stay for another six months, as that was how long Zoro, Kuina, Koshiro and the rest of his students would be staying for as well, that way they could catch a ship together.

With that decided, the three children knew their time together was coming to an end, and everyday was one day closer to their separation. The countdown had begun.

* * *

Five months to go...

Luffy and Nami sat across from each other, though there was no more than two inches of distance between them, in the latter's backyard, where a small tangerine patch had been planted awhile ago. Several tangerines were on the ground by their sides, as they had picked them, and the one who was younger by two months was pealing one at that very moment. And while this wasn't exactly a strange sight, or even a special one really, as this wasn't the first time the two had been alone together, it was really something to see, or at least it would be for anyone who cared for them that is. The significance of this would be lost on those who didn't know these children...

Luffy wore a black undershirt with a red shirt over that, though both were sleeveless, and a pair of black jean shorts that cut off at the bottom of his knees. He was also barefoot, and, strangely, he was missing his treasured straw hat. Not to mention the scar under his left eye, how much baby fat he had lost, and how much taller he had grown. All in all, while he still resembled himself from back then, he looked a good deal different than he had the day he first met this girl sitting so close to him.

The same went for Nami as well. She wore a pale yellow dress, that was also a pseudo hoodie, as it had a hood, that stopped just an inch and a half above her knees, with a green sash tied around her abdomen, it being tied from the back. She also had no shoes to speak of, and most importantly she was wearing the one article of clothing that was missing from the boy sitting so close to her, his precious straw hat. On top of all that, her hair was now longer, it now going down to just a bit past the bottom of her neck, she was taller than she had been, and she had also lost a great deal of baby fat.

Yep, that made the both of them still resemble themselves from back then, but still look so much different now

Nami had finally finished peeling the tangerine, so took a piece from it, and offered it to Luffy, a smile on her face as she did. Luffy, in return, opened his mouth and said ah, which prompted the young girl to break into a fit of giggles, while still gently placing the piece of the tangerine into his mouth as she did. After swallowing it, he offered a large smile of his own, in return to her giggles, as he loved it when she laughed, especially when he made her laugh.

By the time she came down from her giggling trip, Luffy spoke, voicing his thoughts on something he had been thinking to himself for a long time. "You know Nami, you look really cute with long hair." He said this as if it was a matter of fact, his ignorance of the kind of effect saying such things had on his orange haired friend blatantly obvious. And upon seeing the young girl blush at his words, His smile grew, as he liked it when she blushed too, though he could never figure out what brought it about.

Before the blushing girl could manage to form a reply to his words, he spoke again, "Nami..."

That made it where she didn't have to respond to what he had just said, so, her blush fading a bit, she asked, "Yeah, Luffy?"

"I love you." The orange haired girl's eyes widened to the max at those words, her bewilderment at those three words obvious. "W-wh-what?"

The young boy leaned forward and wrapped her into a tight embrace, as he repeated himself. "I said that I love you."

Having his words reconfirmed for her, left the eight year old speechless for several long moments, before finally, a smile crossed her face once more, she returned his embrace, and said in return, "I love you too Luffy."

The boy's heart swelled at those words, as she was the first person to ever say those words to him. Before now, no one had said that they loved him, even if he knew that they did, Ace, Garp and Sabo, they had never said that they did.

* * *

The next day...

"Zoro!"

Hearing his name called, and since he knew it was Luffy doing the calling, the green haired swordsman trainee turned around immediately. He waited for the young straw hat boy to get over to him, his ever present big goofy smile on his face, before he asked. "What's up?"

Luffy's smile only widened at his best friend's question, as he reached up and grabbed ahold of his straw hat, before removing it from his scalp, and placing it on Zoro's head. This rendered him completely and utterly speechless, his eyes widened to the max as he became mute, as no one, not even Bellemere, Garp, Ace or Sabo had ever been allowed to so much as touch Luffy's hat, let alone wear it, Nami being the one and only exception to this. Silence remained for several long moments, before the young swordsman trainee managed to find his voice, "L-Luffy, I-"

Before the older boy could finish, the now hatless straw hat boy leaned forward and embraced him, saying this as he did so. "I love you Zoro."

This also seemed to take the green haired boy's words away, though he recovered faster this time, a large, almost face splitting grin crossing his mug as he returned the hug. "I love you too buddy."

* * *

Four months to go...

Ace sat in one of the bar stools of Partys bar, Nojiko in the spot next to him, and Makino as well as Bellemere behind the counter. The eleven year old was busy with the three, taking lessons in manners, so as to be able pay his respects and thanks to Shanks for everything he had done for his little brother once he met him, as well as allow him to be nice and polite with Luffy's crew once he met them, after he gathered them of course, as at this point it was just him, Nami and Zoro, and three pirates do not make a crew.

To be more specific, it was mainly Makino teaching him proper etiquette, though the dining portion of it everyone knew he wouldn't even attempt to put to use, with minor assistance from Bellemere, and Nojiko, well it was clear she was just here to mock the one year older than her boy every time he got something wrong. Though she was merely being playful, as there wasn't any malice behind her words, and it was more having fun at his expense than anything like cruelty. In fact, Bellemere was starting to think her elder daughter was acting like a child who didn't know what to do when they liked someone, as she never said anything that would actually hurt the boy, in fact it appeared she picked whatever topic would get the raven haired boy to argue with her the most. Though the red head couldn't be one hundred percent sure, she was willing to bet on the fact that she was right.

As Nojiko made another smart remark regarding Ace's manners, or lack thereof, Luffy walked into the bar, gaining Makino's and Bellemere's attention, as the other two children in the room began to bicker once more. He took the stool one space from his older brother, putting one spot between them, as he didn't want to get caught up in what was going on with him and Nami's older sister. As he did, Makino asked, "What is it Luffy?"

The young straw hat boy hesitated for a few moments, before beginning, "Makino, Bellemere, w-would...would you guys...teach me how to...read and write...please?" The young boy sounded a little ashamed of himself as he spoke those words.

Both women's eyes softened, as they said in unison, "Luffy..."

Makino, "It's okay Luffy, there's no reason for you to be ashamed."

Bellemere, "There are plenty of pirates who can't read or write Luffy, and they've too much pride to ask for help at the point in their lives they're at, with this you're already putting yourself ahead of them."

As some of his negative feelings fled him, Luffy nodded his head. While the other two kids continued to argue back and forth, doing so too loudly for them to notice what was going on, Makino asked something of the boy again, "What exactly brought this on?"

Luffy looked away from the two women working the bar, but only for a moment, before answering the question. "I know it'll be a long time before I see Nami and Zoro again once you guys leave, and I wanted to be able to talk to them, so I thought of writing to them. But then I realized that I can't write...or read...so I came to you guys."

Both women let warm smiles spread across their faces at the young boy's words. They then looked at each other, before looking back at the eight year old and saying...

Makino, "I'm afraid I already have my hands full with teaching Ace about proper etiquette, I'm sorry."

Bellemere, "So, I'll have to be the one to teach you how to read and write."

"That okay with you?" They asked in unison.

Luffy nodded his head vigorously, as he exclaimed, "Of course!"

* * *

Three months to go...

Luffy was sitting at the dining table, dutifully learning, or as dutifully as someone like him could, how to read and write from Bellemere, said red head sitting across from him, pointing out any mistakes he made, or helping him sound things out, depending on which of the things they were working with. They had made some progress, but they still had a ways to go if they wanted him to have these capabilities down by the time she and her girls left Dawn Island.

Nojiko sat at the table as well, looking a little bored, but earnestly trying to help out the younger boy in his endeavor.

All of their eyes went to Nami though, despite what they were doing, as she came running into the room, her joy and excitement almost palpable as she cried, "I did it! I did it! I did it!", over and over again, a piece of peculiar paper in her right hand as she bounced up and down in her happiness. She came to a stop before the three, and with their attention on her, she showed the paper, baring her work to all, as she said, "I finally did it! I finally drew a fully complete, full fledged map!"

Large smiles crossed the other three's faces, while the oldest of them gently took the map from her youngest daughter's hands, and examined it herself, Luffy and Nojiko getting out of their seats and coming over to look at it more closely as well. As they all got a closer look at it, their smiles only grew.

Luffy, "Whoa, it's all of Dawn Island! There's Goa, there's Dadan's hut, and there's Fusha!"

Nojiko, "Nami, this is amazing!"

Bellemere, "This is fantastic! You've really got a gift sweetie!"

Nami's smile merely grew at the praise.

That's when Luffy looked away from the map and into Nami's eyes, his smile widening just a bit farther as he did, "You've got this Nami! You'll make a map of the world in no time, I just know it!"

A slight blush stained the orange haired girl's cheeks at her best friend's kind words and strong belief in her, they made her feel really good, there was no denying that.

Seeing this, Bellemere's smile became the widest in the room, as everyday she saw that, in the future, when the time came for her little girl to set out, despite the fact that she would be becoming a pirate, an outlaw, that she would always have someone who would be there for her, no matter what, and would always do whatever it took to put a smile on her face.

* * *

Two months to go...

Luffy watched intently as Zoro had his nineteenth hundred duel with Kuina, the two combatants going back and forth, back and forth, their fight being much more evenly matched than it had been the first time they had battled before the young straw hat boy. However, even though that was the case, the fact that Kuina was the better swordsman was still evident, and so, Zoro's nineteenth hundred defeat was inevitable. And as that defeat came about, the only consolation was the fact that the older girl was breathing heavily, actually panting, as it had taken a lot of her strength and skill to defeat her male counterpart.

Nevertheless her usual bravado came about after she won, as despite how much kinder and mellower she had become, whenever it came to battling she still acted stuck up. "See? No matter how far you progress, you'll never be able to take me. Face it Zoro, you're weak." She was standing over the young green haired boy, his breathing quite ragged, as he had been knocked down in his defeat.

"Kuina." Her name was called by none other than Luffy, so she turned her head to look at him, and what she saw...

The young straw hat boy's head was bowed slightly, so his hat was overshadowing his eyes, so that they couldn't be seen, as he got to his feet, having been sitting cross legged during the duel. Once on his feet, and the older girl's attention was on him, he lifted his head so his eyes could be seen, his expression as fierce as it could get with him being so young, the incident with Bluejam excluded of course, as he said, "Now you fight me."

Her cocky grin only grew at those words, stepping away from Zoro as she spoke, "Alright, have it your way. Come at me th-" Not allowing her time to finish, Luffy lunged at her, ramming his right fist as hard as he could into her face, knocking her flat out onto her back, sliding across the ground several inches from the force of the blow.

Zoro's eyes widened to the max as this happened before him.

After she came to a stop, the older girl held the left side of her face in pain, as a bruise was already beginning to form, a bit of blood was also beginning to dribble out from the left corner of her mouth, and she raised her head to look at her opponent. He looked none too pleased, and with her attention on him again, he spoke up, "Don't call Zoro weak! He tries harder than anyone, he strives to become strong with everything he has! All so that you'll to see him as an equal! Don't you dare make fun of him for that!"

The green haired swordsman was rendered speechless at his best friend's actions, as here he was, defending him and his honor, it was enough to bring him to tears. Though he couldn't help but think, "You're wrong Luffy, Kuina seeing me as an equal isn't the only reason I work so hard to become strong, I also do it...so that I can protect you, and help you achieve your dream." Though he never voiced theses thoughts aloud.

Kuina was stunned greatly by the younger boy's words, but after several moments, she managed to pull herself together and get to her feet. Once she had done so, she reposition herself into her fighting stance, a smirk crossing her face once more, as she said, "I see, perhaps you're right. Fine then, I'll stop...only if you can defeat me though."

His fierce expression fading somewhat, a grin of his own spread across his face, as the raven haired boy replied with, "You're on."

While the fight was hard on both children, Luffy was the one to come out the victor, though all three knew this was because the older girl wasn't at her best. Nevertheless, at her defeat, she gave no protests, and made it clear she would keep her end of the deal.

* * *

The next day...

Zoro was currently waiting patiently for Luffy to show up, as his younger friend had asked him to meet him at the docks of Fusha. He only had to wait another few moments, before the sound of said friend's voice got him to turn around, "Hey there Zoro!"

When he did turn around, he saw his dark haired best friend walking up to him with a bottle of sake, and two small sake cups in his hands, as well as a face splitting grin across his mug. As the straw hat boy came to a stop in front of the green haired boy, he proceeded to ask, "Did you seriously go all the way out to Dadan's hut just to steal that?"

Almost as if he was ignoring the question, the eight year old said, "I asked Makino for it."

The swordsman trainee was understandably skeptical, an eyebrow quirked as he asked, "And she gave it to you?"

His grin still going strong, the black haired boy happily chirped, "Nope!"

"So you did steal it from Dadan then?"

"Yep, sure did! I mean, how else was I supposed to get my hands on this?" The question was genuine.

"Good point." Zoro said. "Now, exactly why did you need to get ahold of this?"

Somehow, Luffy's smile got even wider at that. "I needed it."

"I know that, but what did you need it for?"

"I needed it, so that I could share it with you." As he said this, he opened the bottle and poured some into each cup.

The just about to turn ten years old boy was still confused, "Huh?"

"Remember how I told you that me, Ace and Sabo became brothers?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this is how we did it. Ace said that when men drink together, that they become brothers." He handed Zoro his saucer/cup, and put the bottle down as he said this.

Zoro wasn't sure what to say at this point, so just went with a simple question, "Y-you really want me to be your brother?"

"Of course I do! I love you! Why wouldn't I want you to be my brother!?" He asked this as if Zoro had said something incredulous, like that the sky was green.

The swordsman in training was deeply touched by Luffy's words, and had to fight back the tears that wanted to be shed.

At Zoro's silence, a pout came upon the lively eight year old's face, as he asked, just a hint of hurt in his voice as he did, "Do you not want to be my brother?"

Those words got Zoro to speak up, a face splitting grin of his own coming on, as he said, "Don't ask such a stupid question, if you want us to be brothers, then we're brothers, it's as simple as that. In fact, we don't even need to do this little ceremony, as we're brothers with, or without it."

Luffy's gigantic, severely infectious smile returned at the older boy's words, "Really? That's great!" After saying this though, the younger boy glanced down at the cups of sake, before glancing back up, and asking, "Can we still do it though?"

Seeing that this really meant something to him, Zoro nodded in agreement, before they slammed their cups together and pulled them back and downed the liquid within them. And once they were done, the green haired swordsman trainee couldn't help but think to himself, "Huh, this stuff is actually pretty good."

* * *

One Month to go...

Luffy was sent flying after receiving a particularly strong three punch combo from his Grandfather, with the way he was sent flying, he didn't go farther than ten feet, as he slammed into, and through, a tree, hitting the ground afterwards, the tree barely missing him as it fell over. Usually he would cry out in pain when this happened, but Zoro and Nami were watching, so he bit his tongue and kept his pain to himself. It didn't matter of course, as the two had grown sick of seeing their best friend receive such a brutal beating, and when this happened, they were rushing to his side, calling out his name as they did, so as to make sure he was okay.

As they reached him and got to their knees to check him over, Zoro asking him if he was alright, while Nami checked him over, Garp was slowly making his way towards them. "I'm fine, I can handle it." Luffy managed to grumble out.

Nami's worry was written all over her face, as she examined all the bruises on his body, as well as his busted lip and bloody nose, and fretted. "That's a lie! In fact, I think he might of broke something with that last punch! Rubber bones shouldn't break! He's hitting you far too hard!" Luffy shook his head, as he sat up, and repeated his words, "I can handle it."

Zoro too didn't like this, just as Nami didn't. as while he knew exactly why Luffy put himself through this, as this was even worse than what Garp used to do to him, he hated it nevertheless. And while he usually never said anything, or tried to interfere, he was done. Even if it was just this one time...he wanted to help. So, he held his hand out to Luffy, who took it and allowed his new brother to pull him to his feet. Once he was standing, his eyes met Zoro's, and not for the first time, the two were able to understand what the other was thinking, without so much as saying a word. "What do you say Luffy? You up for it?"

Nami looked bewildered at Zoro's question, as he hadn't said anything before asking that of the black haired boy, but then an annoyed look of understanding came over her face, "Oh yeah, they have that weird thing of theirs where they can talk without actually doing so." The reason it was an annoyed understanding, was because every time they did that, they went and did something stupid.

The straw hat boy nodded his head hard, as he said, "You know it."

The eight year old and ten year old then turned to face Garp, who was less than seven feet away at this point, and said in unison, "Now let's take this old bastard down!" They charged forward at that, intent on hitting him with everything they had, in spite of the fact of how ludicrously strong he was.

"Old bastard am I!?" Garp cried as he prepared to fight both of the brats rushing him.

Nami just watched from where she stood as the two recklessly ran in, and began to get the snot beaten out of them for their stupidity. No matter how many times he hit them, or how hard he hit them though, the two always got back up, and never yielded to the marine hero. And despite herself, Nami couldn't help but let a small, fond smile cross her face as she watched this, as while yes, it was very idiotic what they were doing, it was also part of who they were, and the orange haired navigator to be wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

The day of departure...

Luffy, Zoro and Nami all stood before a large boat, which held many people, Bellemere, Nojiko, Koshiro, all of his students, and Kuina being just a portion of them. They were in the middle of saying their goodbyes, Garp and Ace several feet behind them, waiting for Luffy, as they had another training session today. They knew this day had been coming for a long time now, but nevertheless, if they weren't so hopeful for the future, this would be quite a sorrowful event.

Zoro turned to Luffy before boarding, as it was his turn to do so, and spoke, "I know it'll be tough on your own, but remember that this isn't a permanent goodbye, we'll meet again. Know that, when you set out to sea, I'll be waiting for you, that's a promise."

Luffy nodded his head, "I know you will."

The two then shared a hug, and a fist bump after that, before the older of them turned and walked onto the boat.

It was now Nami's turn, the young girl stopping at the spot where Zoro had just stood, and turning to face the two month older boy. As she did, she gently offered the special piece of paper she had been holding to him, saying this as she did so, "I wanted you to have this, to remember me by."

Luffy carefully took it from her, and glanced at it, it was the map she had made of Dawn Island. His eyes widened at this, "Nami, this is your map of Dawn, I can't-"

Not allowing him to finish, Nami spoke once more, "It's my first ever completed map, I know. And you can take it, because I want you to have it, that way you'll never be able to forget about me."

Luffy protested that idea vehemently, "What!? Nami, I could never forget about you!"

The orange haired girl giggled at that. "I should hope so. Oh and Luffy?"

Calming immediately at that, he asked, "Yeah?"

"I always meant to tell you, you look really cute in that straw hat." Before the straw hat boy could voice his loud protests about not being cute, as they were always loud, always, Nami leaned forward and kissed him on his left cheek, whispering this as she pulled her lips away afterward, "I'll miss you."

With that said, the navigator to be did a quick turn, and boarded the ship, in doing so she failed to notice the fact that for the first time ever, Monkey D. Luffy was blushing, and she had caused him to do so.

Garp spoke up as the ship began to slowly leave the dock, "Come on Luffy, let's go start you two's next training session."

He shook his head vigorously at that, "No way! I'm not leaving this spot!"

Garp grit his teeth, and was about to yell at his grandchild, when he realized what he was doing, sighed and decided to let it be. "Fine then, come and find us when you're done." With that, despite of Ace's protests, the grey marine dragged him away.

Luffy continued to watch as his friends sailed away, every moment taking them farther away from him, and even though he knew they'd one day be reunited, he couldn't help but begin to cry. As he did, he heard them cry out to him, in unison, their voices revealing that they too were crying. "WE"LL BE WAITING FOR YOU LUFFY!"

The rate of his tears increased greatly, and despite them, a face splitting smile crossed his mug, as he shouted at the top of the lungs, for the whole world to hear, "NAMI! ZORO! NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES, I'LL FIND YOU, AND WE'LL ALL ACHIEVE OUR DREAMS, TOGETHER!"

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**


	10. The Adventure Begins

DarkPirateKing69: You my friend, are exactly right. If there was ZoLu in this story, I would have said so. I don't write ZoLu, I don't read ZoLu, I don't support ZoLu, so believe me, there will be no romantic relationship between the two. Hell, I'm still trying to decide a pairing for Zoro...if any as he doesn't have to have one, still leaning towards Tashigi though, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. While I wholeheartedly support LuNa, and believe it should be Cannon, when it comes to Zoro with a pairing...well...Tashigi is the only one that seems plausible and...well that relationship would be complicated, to say the least.

Sorry, no training montage I'm afraid, though that would have been cool to put in.

CosmicSynopsis: I'm glad that you're looking forward to it. :)

NinjaFang1331: Thank you! As for the Haki, well...you'll just have to see when he learns to use it.

midnightscar17: Well...such things aren't too far away from where we are...so, I'm afraid I'll have to keep silent on that, sorry.

Luna25684: I'm glad you thought so. As for Dragon, as I said last chapter, someone retrieved the three children from him, who it was I won't say yet, though the list of people who would is very short, and I will reveal what happened later on. And finally, Ace's fate...I can't reveal anything I'm afraid, as it would ruin the surprises I have coming. So will Ace die? Sorry, but you'll just have to wait and see for yourself.

Just letting you know, this chapter has a lot of Cannon material in it, so...yeah. Now then, please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Luffy was running through the forest he had all but grew up in, making his way to Dadan's hut, any and all animals he came across as he did cowered away from him, knowing far too well how strong he was. Soon enough, he reached said destination, stopping less than half a dozen feet from the hideout of the Dadan Family.

It had been eight long years, so the boy was now much different than he had once been...at least from the outside perspective that is. He now stood at five eight, his build slim and lanky. As for his clothing, he wore short, blue trousers with cuffs, sandals, and a sleeveless red vest, as well as, of course, his most treasured straw hat. One thing that was exactly the same however, was his enormous grin, that split his face.

He walked a few feet forward, before poking his head around the corner of the doorway, where he saw all the mountain bandits, including Dadan, waiting for him, though the boss of said group had her back to him. "Hey guys! I'm going now! Aren't you coming to see me off?"

"Oh shut up!" Dadan said, not turning to face him even as she spoke. "Makino and the Mayor might not mind not mind us, since they actually know us, but we'd scare off all the other villagers if we came down from the mountain."

"Yeah, but..." Luffy started, looking a tad disappointed that they weren't coming down to the dock with him.

"Just get going already!" The large woman snapped, still not facing her adoptive son as she did.

Luffy sighed at that. "Oh, well, then guys..." He brightened up at this point, as nothing could kill his mood, not today. "...thanks for everything!"

Not one of them could hide the red in their faces at those words, "Oh, don't embarrass us." Dogra said with an awkward laugh. "There's no need for you to thank us!" He exclaimed quite happily and genuinely.

"Now, now, there's no need to delay your departure on our behalf, so get going." Magra added, rubbing the back of his head with one hand, while raising the other in farewell. "And take care!"

"Don't worry, I will!" Luffy's head disappeared, as he pulled back out and prepared to leave the clearing the hut was located in, but only a moment later his head could be seen sticking through the doorway once more. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Dadan, I hate mountain bandits."

That got the large woman to finally spin around and face her roughly sixteen and a half year old adopted son, as she snapped once more, her annoyance quite evident. "Shut up, you little brat!"

"But I like you guys!" He finally added.

Dadan gave a small gasp, before she hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief from her blouse, as she began to cry. "Don't say dumb things like that, and just get lost already, damn you!" All the other bandits merely smiled at that point.

"Dammit, why am I surrounded by such fools!?"

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying!" The large woman denied vehemently to her son.

Luffy merely chuckled, before waving and bidding his final goodbye to them, turning and taking off after that, heading down to the village he had spent several years in before coming here.

* * *

In spite of the fact that the sixteen years and eight months old teenager had wanted to rush straight on to the docks, he couldn't help but come to a stop as he reached the house that had once belonged to Bellemere, Nami and Nojiko. He just stood there, staring at it for several moments, as memories of years ago played themselves in his mind. After a dozen long moments though, he managed to pry his eyes away from the small and humble building, before he continued on to the docks, greeting every villager he met along the way, which was most of them, as just about the entire village had come out to see the young boy...or rather man, off.

By the time he actually got to the docks, he was surrounded by people, all of them smiling, wishing him well on his journey as he passed by them. He stood at the edge of said docks, right by a small row boat that had nothing but two paddles and a barrel sitting in it, said wooden cylinder construct full of food, more specifically apples. Before he stepped into said tiny boat, he hugged Makino and bid her farewell personally, as out of everyone here at the moment, he was closest to her.

Now that he stood in the boat however, some people tried to talk him into taking some kind of other vessel...

"Hey, if you're going out to sea, you should take my old fishing boat Luffy. You'll sink right away if you take that thing." One man called to him.

"A row boat? Come on, you can't be serious." Another said.

"I'm fine with this." Luffy replied, before holding his arms out to his sides as far as he could without stretching them, "I'll start my journey here! My adventure begins now!"

Just as Luffy was about to turn around and face away from the village, his eyes caught sight of Dadan, Magra and Dogra all peeking their heads out from behind a building, and asall their eyes met with his, his smile managed to widen just a bit further, letting them know he was glad they were here.

Now facing the sea, the straw hat teenager then called out, "SABO! I'm finally setting out to sea! Watch over me!"

A determined look in his eyes, his voice fell in volume greatly, as he whispered to himself, "Sabo was first, Ace was second...and now I'm the third to go. But I won't lose!" His voice became loud once more, as he shouted, "Just you wait Ace, I'll catch up to you, and then, I'll surpass you! Same goes for you Shanks!"

His voice dropped once again then, "And finally..." However not a moment later, it rose to it's highest volume, as he cried out at the top of his lungs, "NAMI! ZORO! Just wait a little longer, I'll find you guys, and then we'll be together again!" As he did this, the memory of how he agreed with his two best friends that they would all set sail eight years to the day they left played itself in his mind.

"What are you doing Luffy?" One villager asked, while the rest of them looked at each other, completely lost as to what was going on. "Shouting and muttering to yourself like that, is it supposed to be like some kind of good luck charm?"

"That's not it!" He called back, turning around to face the village once more, his right fist held up proudly, "It's a vow!"

"Who's Ace?" Someone asked.

"No idea." Someone else answered.

"And what about this Sabo, anyone know him?" One villager questioned.

"I sure don't." Another villager remarked.

"Nami? Wasn't there a little girl who used to live here with that name?" A woman pondered.

"I think so, but I didn't see her much." Her husband said.

"Wasn't she the daughter of that woman who used to help Makino with the bar, what was her name...Bellemere, I think?" Another asked themselves, as well as the others.

"Didn't she leave like eight years ago?"Another village wondered.

"Yeah, she did. Same goes for that Zoro kid. I remember, because he wasn't wandering around the whole village the next day, like he usually did." One of the eldest of the villagers confirmed.

"Alright," Luffy called happily, interrupting them all, as he waved to them. "I'm going now! Goodbye everyone!"

The black haired teenager then untied the rope that kept his boat from drifting off, picked up the paddles, took a seat and began to row away from the tiny town of Fusha, all the villagers waving goodbye as he did.

Before the dark haired teen could make it too far from the shore though, a giant roar was heard coming from beneath the surface of the water, all the villagers beginning to scream in terror and fear as the sound echoed across the area, as the Sea King, the very same one who had taken Shank's left arm, burst out of the water, his eyes glowing red, and looking mighty hungry.

Luffy was now standing once again, his eyes covered by his downward tilted hat, "So, there you are, Lord of the Coast." A confident smirk crossed the young man's face, as he glanced up at the giant sea monster. "You don't who you're messing with. It's been ten years since that day, and I'm a lot stronger now, I can handle you myself."

The sixteen year old threw his right arm back then, it stretching a little, before shooting it forward, it stretching more this time so as to reach the beast, before nailing it in the face with a strong punch, hitting it's mark perfectly, the young man calling out the name of his attack as this happened, "GUM GUM PISTOL!"

The Sea King reeled in shock, knocked out of the water from the force of the blow, only a moment later though, it fell back into the water with humongous splash, almost causing a tidal wave.

"Learned your lesson yet, ya dumb fish?" Luffy spoke up smugly, just as all the villagers from the shore began shouting and whistling loudly in pride.

Only a moment later though, he turned back to face the ocean, the large wave that had been caused by the sea monster hitting the water pushing him out away from Fusha, as he tilted his hat back so he could look out at the ocean, and still see the clear, blue sky. "First I gotta find Nami and Zoro! Then I'll gather the rest of my crew! Counting my two best friends, I'd like to have about ten people! And then we'll need a pirate flag!" He beamed at the thought of it all. "Alright, here I come!" The straw hat teen then punched the air, as he shouted one more time at the top of his lungs, for the entire world to hear, "I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!"

* * *

Luffy was slumped over on his side, his stomach growling, a look of slight annoyance on his face as he gazed at the now empty barrel. It had only been a few days, but he was already out of food, and anyone who knew him knew that served a large problem, as he could eat several times his body weight, and as such it took a large amount of food just to get his stomach to shut up. More importantly, the hungrier he was, the weaker he was, and not being on top of your game is always a bad thing.

The raven haired teen continued to glare at the empty barrel, scrutinizing it, as if it was it's fault that he was out of food. However his gaze was pulled away from the wooden cylinder construct, as he heard the sound of a cannon firing. He quickly realized said cannon was aimed at him, but the cannon ball landed several feet to his left, plopping into the water with a splash. The ship that had just fired was one of the pirate persuasion, and it was a little on the modest size, big enough for twenty or so people, thirty if you did your best to squeeze everyone in. It was plain enough, a few cannons on each side, and even it's Jolly Roger was generic, looking like the textbook example of one. But, where there were people, there was food.

As another cannon ball was fired at him, missing again, he came to the conclusion that either they didn't see him and were just firing randomly, or their aim really sucked. It didn't matter either way, as he was sure there would be some kind of food on that ship, and was going over there anyway. Before he could use his ability to make his way over there though, they began sailing closer to him, so the sixteen year old decided to just let them come to him, hoping that they had enough food for him to make his hunger pains go away.

Moments later, another cannon ball was shot, this one missing the little boat of Luffy's only by centimeters, which meant the next shot would most likely hit. Since that was the case, despite the fact that the ship was still about twelve to thirteen feet out, he went ahead and brought his arms back, before shooting them forward, stretching them all the way over to the much larger boat than his, before snapping back towards his hands, his body sailing through the air all the way over to the boat. The ship rocked back and forth as Luffy slammed into it, his hands holding tightly to the edge of the deck, before he pulled himself up and onto the vessel.

All eyes were immediately on him as he stood up, as he did so he took notice of the fact that there were exactly fifteen people on deck, all of their eyes wide with shock at what they had just seen him do. Seemingly not taking notice of this, the excitable teenager gave a smile as he chirped, "Hi there! Got any food?"

At that, what appeared to be the captain stepped forward, "Y-yeah, we do. W-what's it to you?"

"Great! Can I have some?" He asked quite bluntly.

Everyone aboard gave him incredulous, bewildered looks, as their captain voiced exactly what they were thinking. "W-what!? NO! Why the hell would you ask Pirates for food!?"

The straw hat teen cocked his head to the side, a confused expression coming over his face, as he spoke, "Because I'm hungry." He said this as if they were the stupid ones for asking.

Many of them sweat dropped at that, while their captain grit his teeth as hard as he could, trying to withhold his anger. The person who was probably the first mate then asked, "Just who are you?"

His head returning to it's original position, Luffy smiled once more as he answered, "Me? I'm Luffy, and I'm a pirate."

At that the captain couldn't keep himself quiet anymore, as he screamed out at the top of his lungs, "YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! WHAT KIND OF FUCKING PIRATE ARE YOU!?"

The dark haired sixteen year old didn't hesitate to answer that question, "The hungry kind." His smile got wider at his own words, showing just how genuine they were.

The captain now looked close to ripping his own hair out, his face beginning to turn red in his ever increasing frustration. He had a short temper as it was, and his tolerance for other people was low, so someone like Luffy drove him nuts in a matter of moments. "That's it! That is it! Get him boys!"

Following their captain's orders, all of them rushed the younger pirate, most of them ready to use their fists, a few of them cutlasses drawn.

However, with only a few attacks, everyone but the captain and first mate were on the ground unconscious, the latter of whom had several nasty bruises courtesy of the straw hat pirate. And as that was the case, the young teen looked back towards them, his smile even bigger now, as he said, "So, how about that food?"

The first mate nodded his head vigorously at that, "Of course! Right away!" He then ran through a door and down into the interior of the ship.

This of course left the now very nervous captain alone with the straw hat stranger, neither of them speaking a word for several long seconds. Finally, after an internal debate, the captain, who was more than ten years the sixteen year old's senior, pointed out to where Luffy had come from, as he yelled, "Hey look, someone's trying to steal your boat!"

"What!?" Luffy of course, being the honest and trusting person he was, whirled around to look out at the row boat he had been traveling in, his eyes running over it two or three times, saying this as he did, "But I don't see any-"

Before the rubber teenager could finish, the captain had bum rushed him from behind, and knocked him over the railing and off of the deck.

Luffy realized he was in trouble mid fall, so shot his arms out towards his tiny boat, them stretching to the point where he could grab ahold of the bench you sat on inside said little sea vessel, before snapping back towards it. He slammed into it, causing it to rock back and forth violently, nearly tipping over as it did. He let the boat calm before standing back up, looking back to the ship he had just been pushed off as he did, to see it sailing away. Seeing this, he called out as loud as he could, "WAIT! I FELL OFF!" They of course didn't stop, so he called out once more. "AT LEAST GIVE ME THAT FOOD YOU SAID I COULD HAVE BEFORE YOU LEAVE"

Despite his call, the ship continued to sail away. Since that was the case, he began to pout, as he really wanted something to eat. He continued to look down trodden for a dozen moments, before his smile returned, as he said to himself, "Oh well, at least the weather's nice." As he said that though, he began hearing a loud whirring sound, it growing louder every second, so turned around to see what it was.

The sight of a giant whirlpool greeted him, one big enough to sink a sailboat. It stretched out in all directions in a perfect circle, spiraling down to, most likely, the bottom of the ocean. The center of it was pitch black, which just raised the level of horror it could instill in a person. Monkey D. Luffy however, was far from normal. "Huh, on such a nice day like this, who would have thought I would get into such a disaster." He said with a note of humor in his voice.

"What a huge whirlpool, how careless of me." The teen said, acting far too calm for the kind of situation he was in. He looked around for a moment then, his eyes lingering on the retreating form of the pirate ship he had just been on, before going back to the vortex of death he was approaching. "There's no one around either, if only those guys had stuck around a little longer, I could have hitched a ride with them. Things will get really bad for me if this boat gets wrecked. And on top of that, I can't swim." He let out a long sigh at that. "If I don't do something, I'll die here."

The straw hat teen put his hand on his chin, as he began to think. He did this for several moments, before his eyes fell on the empty barrel he had with him. "That's it!" With that he wasted no time in opening the wooden construct, before jumping inside of it and closing it once more, just before his boat went under.

* * *

A little while later...

Three sailors stood above deck on a cruise ship, everyone else down in the ballroom, the captain included, dancing and having a good time. One was up in the crows nest, another was swabbing the deck, and the last wasn't really doing anything in particular. So it was the third one who was the first to look over the railing when he heard something hit the side of the ship, only to discover it was nothing more than a barrel. "A barrel? Out here in the middle of the ocean?" Nevertheless, he couldn't help but wonder what was inside of it, so went to get the equipment needed to retrieve it.

Five minutes and several unsuccessful attempts later, and the sailor who had been swabbing the deck, but had just finished, finally came over to help. "Sheesh, that's the eighth time you've missed. Buddy, hate to break it to ya, but you suck."

"Oh screw you."

The second sailor chuckled at that, before taking the equipment away from the first one and preparing to retrieve the wooden cylinder construct out from the ocean himself. "Let me show you how it's done."

The second sailor managed to hit the barrel, and pull it up on his first attempt. "And that my friend, is how you fish a barrel out of the sea."

As the third sailor took the object from him, he looked like he wanted to respond to his words, but the weight of the object almost caused him to fall to the floor, so as he brought it back up and stood straight,, he voiced his thoughts on it aloud, all but forgetting what he wanted to say to him before. "Geez, this is one heavy barrel. What the hell is in this thing?"

"Could be beer." The second sailor suggested.

A smirk crossed the third sailor's face at that, "Well if it is, it's our beer now."

Just as they were going to open it and see what was inside, their friend in the crows nest, the first sailor, cried out as loud as he could, while pointing to where he saw what he saw. "PIRATES! PIRATES OFF THE STARBOARD BOW! WE'VE GOT A PIRATE SHIP IN PURSUIT!"

The other two deckhands looked out to where their friend was pointing, to see a sight that caused them to begin freaking out, dropping the barrel as they did so.

The sight that caused them to panic so, was a pirate ship sneaking out from the cover of a nearby island, it was large and pink, with four sails, each with a pink heart , and two pink hearts on each side of said sea vessel. The figurehead of the ship looked like a duck, or it could have been a swan, it was quite hard to tell, and finally, the jolly roger they flew was a sideways skull with a heart.

Only moments after said pirates had been spotted, they began to open fire. And as the cannon balls that missed caused small waves that rocked the passenger boat, the barrel began to roll away, down into the lower decks.

* * *

The pirate ship was now close enough for the crew to board the passenger ship, so they began preparing to do so. Throwing ropes with hooks on the end of them and attaching them to the deck of the ship opposite to them, so that they could.

The Captain of the ship stepped forward then, putting themselves in front of all their subordinates. This person was female, stood six foot something, was very obese, had long wavy black hair and freckles on her cheeks. She wore a white cowgirl hat with a large red plume, a red neckerchief, a pink plaid shirt, and a blue captain's coat over it with the arms in the sleeves. As well as rings on her fingers, the long sharp fingernails of said fingers also had red polish. She also wore a purple sash with a flintlock pistol tucked in it. And finally, she wore graying pants and red shoes with gold buckles.

On her signal they would begin to invade the other ship, and they only had to wait another moment for it to arrive. "Here we go, time to show them the terror of Iron Club Alvida, lady pirate of the sea!" As she said this, she used one hand to swing her big spiked club through the air, for which she got her name from.

With that all of her men began to rush to the other, larger boat, some running along the ropes they had used to connect them, while others used ropes hanging from their ship's mast to swing over, all of them screaming and shouting as they did so.

Alvida watched until every last member of her crew was off her ship, all except one that is. She turned to address this one member, "Coby! What are you doing?"

This Coby in question, was a small, somewhat chubby, pink haired boy, who wore a white short sleeve shirt with blue trimming on the sleeves, black trousers, white and red sneakers, as well as round rimmed glasses. His fear was evident in his timid voice as he said, "I'm not...too good at this stuff."

The large woman began to move towards him as she replied to his words, "Huh, you're telling me. Maybe it's because you're too busy back talking me all the time."

The fear he felt rose as she drew closer to him, his voice becoming panicked as he spoke up once more, "Oh no, not the club, anything but the club, please!"

Coming to a stop right beside him, she answered his pleas. "Then get your ass in gear!" She proceeded to kick him quite hard in his ass as she said this, sending him flying over to the ship, the boy crying in pain all the way until he hit the wall of an above deck cabin face first, shutting him up as he slid down to the deck.

He sat up a moment later, holding his face in pain, as he willed himself to not shed tears. However his attention was on Alvida once more, as she had jumped over as well, and was now right above him, coming down club first as she yelled, "Move it ya brat!"

The boy quickly became paralyzed in fear, curling into a ball and using his arms to protect his head as he did. Luckily for him, the obese woman was off by about a foot, so slammed into the above deck cabin, breaking it apart as she did. It took him a moment to notice this, but as he did, he quickly scrambled to his feet and rushed to the stairs that led below deck, as the big woman was dazed for a moment, and took that as his chance to run and hide until she was not feeling so violent, that way she wouldn't hurt him so bad, like that would actually happen, but he hoped it would nevertheless.

* * *

"Um...hello?" Coby asked as he poked his head into the first room he found. He glanced around fearfully and timidly, hoping against hope no one was in here as he did.

After a few moments of this, he actually entered the room, muttering to himself as he did, "I sure hope no one's in here."

Another few seconds of looking around, and the pink haired boy was able to sigh in relief, his hand over his heart as he did so. "No one's in here, what a relief."

That's when he spotted a large barrel on it's side not five feet from him, "Wow." He said, still talking to himself as he took a few steps over to examine said wooden cylinder. "That's one big barrel, I wonder what's inside it?"

He began rolling it into the next room, so as to answer just that question, but once he had done so, before he could actually open it, a voice caught his attention, "Well, if it isn't our favorite coward."

The pink haired boy glanced up at who had said that, to see three of his 'fellow' pirates standing there. "Trying to hide in here and duck out on all the action again huh?" The first one snarled.

Coby quickly jumped back in fright, waving his hands back and forth frantically as he tried to explain that he was merely bringing this barrel of booze to them. They merely laughed at him, before the middle one made a suggestion, "Well then, why don't we lighten your load for ya? You go on about your business, and we'll enjoy this liquor while ya do."

"You can't!" Coby cried out in panic. "Lady Alvida would kill us if she ever found out!"

"She won't find out, at least as long as you keep your trap shut, right Coby?" Another one of them sneered.

"Yeah, right!" The boy squealed, looking read to agree with anything these men said to keep them happy, so as to keep himself unharmed.

The biggest of the three stepped forward to the barrel then, cracking his knuckles as he said, "Hold on boys, I'll open her the old fashioned way."

He brought his right fist up, so as to break the barrel open, but just before he could bring it down, something came bursting through the wood of the lid of the barrel, smashing it pieces, knocking out the pirate who had been ready to punch it, this something being someone wearing a straw hat, as he stretched out as he cried, "I slept so good!"

The three other people that were conscious in the room stared at him in complete shock, as he finished yawning and stretching, before taking notice of the scene he was in the middle of. He seemed confused for a moment, pointing to the unconscious pirate on the floor as he asked, "Who's that?" Still, the three were too stunned to speak, so the teen with black haired looked to the other two pirates, their mouths hanging open, as he spoke again. "And who the hell are you?"

"Who the hell are you!?" They screamed back at him.

Pointing to the only one who was unconscious in the room, the teen then said, "Your friend will catch a cold sleeping on the floor like that." He said this casually, as if he hadn't just knocked him out, also ignoring the question of who he was altogether.

"You're the one who knocked him out!" The two pirates screamed once more.

The braver of the two pulled his blade and pointed toward the guy who still stood in the barrel, speaking as he did so, "You're messing with us, aren't you? Don't you know who we are!? We're the merciless Alvida Pirates!"

The teen ignored him altogether, as he turned to Coby and said, "I'm starving. Got any food?"

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" The one who was pointing his sword at him yelled.

The other one, angered by this, brought his blade up as well, "You damn kid! Don't ignore us!" And tried to attack him.

Though before the blade could touch his skin, he had brought his right fist back, without looking behind him, as that was where he was being attacked from, and slammed the back of his hand and his knuckles into the pirate's face, knocking him to the ground hard, his sword falling from his hands and clanking onto the floor as he lost consciousness.

The straw hat teenager turned to face the one conscious, and the now two, unconscious pirates behind him, asking this as he did, "What is wrong with you guys? Can't you see how hungry I am?"

"J-just, wh-who are you?" The last conscious pirate managed to croak out, his eyes wide and sweat pouring down his face as he did.

"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy." He said happily, seemingly forgetting how annoyed he was with them a moment ago, as he crossed his arms and grinned. "Nice to meet ya."

The pirate couldn't help but begin screaming, as he grabbed his two friends and dragged them by their collars out of the room and away from this psychotic monster they had managed to find.

Coby, who had been cowering on his knees behind the barrel Luffy stood in, was now gawking up at him, as he peaked through his trembling fingers. "So ah...what just happened?" He asked, not understanding the situation in the slightest.

"Ya got me." Luffy said, shrugging his shoulders unconcernedly as he did.

Coby blinked at that, before he suddenly started to freak out, yelling this as he did, "Quick, you've got to run! If those guys come with their buddies, they'll kill you on the spot!"

"Like I care, now where's the food?" As he said this, he stepped out of the barrel and began sniffing the air like a dog, trying to find the closest source of sustenance for his all but bottomless pit of a stomach.

"How can you just blow this off like that!? There are hundreds of them up on the deck and they're waiting for an excuse to kill anything!"

The glasses wearing boy was ignored as the straw hat teen began heading to the nearest door. In an effort to stop him, the smaller boy grabbed a hold of his left arm, but that proved futile as only a moment later, he was slammed into the wall for his efforts, as the raven haired sixteen year old was on the trail of the scent of food, and wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to the one trying to stop him.

* * *

Soon enough Luffy had found a storage room filled with food, and seeing as there was no meat, he settled for apples instead, beginning to dig in with gusto. He was so focused on filling his empty stomach, that he wasn't listening to a single word Coby was saying to him. Said pink haired boy was interrupted, as the older of the two suddenly asked, his mouth full of food as he did, "So is this a pirate ship or what?"

"No, we're on a passenger ship that's being raided by pirates." He explained quickly. "Pirates under the command of Lady Alvida."

"Ah, who cares?" Luffy asked, unconcerned as to who these pirates served under. "What I wanna know is if they're any boats on board."

After thinking it over for a moment, Coby answered him, "I think there are a few."

"Great, cause mine got sucked into some big whirlpool." The teenager explained.

"That big one outside!?" The pink haired boy cried out in disbelief. "No way! No one could've survived that!"

"Yeah, I gotta say it was a big surprise! Guess I just got lucky!" He laughed loudly, finally turning to look at the other boy in the room as he did.

The glasses wearing boy continued to just stare at the straw hat teenager, until he asked, "So are you one of the pirates, or one of the passengers?"

Coby flinched at those words, before hanging his head in shame, as he began to explain how he had been Alvida's prisoner for two years now, serving as her cabin boy and doing anything she and her crew told him so he could survive, and all because he mistakenly got onto a pirate boat, rather than the fishing boat he was supposed to get on.

"Damn, you're pretty stupid, you know that right?" Luffy asked Coby bluntly after he finished swallowing another mouthful of food.

"Geez, thanks for your honesty." The pink haired boy said pitifully.

"If you hate it here so much, then just leave." Luffy offered helpfully.

"Are you kidding!?" He shouted, as he shook his head vigorously from side to side. "No way! Na'ah! Not a chance! Just the thought of Alvida finding me scares me so bad I wanna throw up!"

"So you're an idiot and a coward!" He laughed after saying that. "I can't stand people like you!"

Coby began to ball his eyes out at those words. He did so for a few minutes, before he managed to suck it up enough to speak once more, "I know Luffy, you're right. If I had any actual courage, I could drift alone in a barrel and be rid of this place. I actually have my own dreams! And I so desperately want to live them all out one day!"

After opening up so much to the older boy, Coby was quiet for a while, before finally asking, "So, what about you Luffy? What was it that got you to set sail on these seas?"

"Me? Well, I'm gonna be King of the Pirates." He replied with a smile, looking as if he couldn't be happier he had been asked that.

As those words came out of the raven haired teen's mouth, the pink haired boy looked close to having a heart attack, as he had to fight back a panic attack at what he had just been told. Soon his mouth began to move, but his voice was gone, it was if he didn't know how to speak, soon enough though, he managed to squeak out, "The...King...?"

"Yep." Luffy said simply.

"You're serious?" The pink haired boy asked incredulously.

"Yeah." He responded cheerfully.

"But...but, that would mean...that you're a pirate too!" The glasses wearing boy hissed.

"Right." Luffy confirmed proudly.

"Your crew?" Coby continued to ask, shaking as he did, as if he was horrified of what the answer might be.

"Only two of them for right now. I'm actually on my way to get them, one of them I'm picking up from Cocoyashi village, and the other I'm picking up from Shimotsuki village. From there we'll look for the rest of our crew."

Coby seemed to freeze at this, remaining unmoving for several long moments, before he took a step back and began yelling, "King of the Pirates is a title given to the one who has attained everything this world has to offer! You're talking about seeking out the the great treasure that Gold Roger spoke of before he was executed! Wealth, fame, power! It is said one will have all these if they found it! The treasure you seek is the One Piece!"

"Yeah, that's about it." Luffy confirmed.

"Yeah, that's it? That's all you have to say!?" Coby demanded, sounding close to hysteria as he did. "Pirates from all over the world are looking for that treasure you know!"

"Yeah, so?"

"No way! It's impossible, impossible, impossible! There's no way someone like you could ever reach the top of this Great Pirate Era!" The pink haired boy yelled frantically, as he shook his head back and forth once more. His voice quickly began to grow in volume, almost screaming at the top of his lungs at this point, "There are just far too many pirates who're meaner and better and stronger, you'll-"

Before he could finish his little rant, Luffy bonked him on the head with his fist real hard, knocking him to the floor and shutting him up. He was only silence for a moment though, as he sat up he whined, "Ow! Why'd you hit me!?"

"Cause I felt like it." The sixteen year old answered honestly.

Rubbing his sore head, Coby said, "Oh well, I'm used to that stuff. My crewmates smack me around a lot. All the time in fact."

Luffy gently placed his right hand on his hat as he explained, "It's not about if I can. I'm doing it cause I want to do it. " Coby looked up at the raven haired teen as he took the straw hat off his head, and stared at it fondly. I decided long ago that I was gonna be King of the Pirates." As he said this, there wasn't even a single shred of doubt or hesitance or fear. "If I have to die fighting for that, then I die."

Coby didn't say a word, probably because he had been rendered speechless, he only continued to stare long and hard at the older boy in the room, as if seeing something he had never seen before. It took awhile before everything Luffy said had sunk in, and as the ink haired boy finished thinking the words over, he responded with, "I...I guess I never thought of it like that." The glasses wearing boy hesitate a moment before continuing to speak, "If I put my mind to it...if I'm prepared to die for it...could I do something like that? "

"Like what?" The straw hat teenager asked curiously.

"Do you think..." The boy hesitated once more, worried that he would be laughed at for his dream, before finally managing to get the words out. "Do you think I could ever join the Marines?"

"Marines?" Luffy repeated in surprise.

"Yes!" Coby yelled, shooting up to his feet, tears in his eyes as he did. "I've dreamt of being a Marine ever since I was a child!"

Finally, he managed to ask what he wanted to ask, "Do you think I can do it?"

"How would I know?" Luffy answered honestly with a short laugh.

"No, I know I can! I'm gonna do it!" He pumped his arms up as he said this. "I refuse to be stuck here as a cabin boy for the rest of my life! I'll escape, and then turn right around and catch Alvida myself!" He shouted, his confidence visibly growing.

Just as the last of those words came out of his mouth, the ceiling above him caved in, and Alvida came crashing through, kicking up a bunch of dust as she did, slamming onto the floor with a loud crash, causing the pink haired boy to scream in fright and jump back, all his confidence from before fleeing on sight.

"Who is it that you're planning on catching, Coby?" Demanded a harsh female voice. "And you actually think this twig is gonna help you?"

Coby shrank back into a corner, shaking in terror, as he covered his face with his hands, as if hoping that would successfully hide him. "Well?" The voice demanded again, just as the dust cleared enough for the woman to be seen. "Answer me!"

"Who are you going to catch!?" Alvida demanded for the third time, holding her big club, but was actually more like a mace, over her shoulders.

Suddenly, several swords came through the back wall, just missing Luffy's head on either side of him. Yet this didn't seem to bother the sixteen year old, he didn't even bother to glance at them. Alvida's attention however, went to him as her men failed to kill him, and looking him up and down for a few moments, she smirked as she said, "Well...my guess is that you're not Zoro the Pirate Hunter."

The straw hat teen's eyes widened slightly, "Zoro?"

But Alvida didn't go on despite the interest he had shown, as she glared back down at Coby. "Coby," She barked, causing him to jump in fright. "Who is the most beautiful of all on these seas?"

Before the pink haired boy could say anything to the obese woman, Luffy bluntly asked, "Hey Coby, who's the fat lady?"

There was stunned silence at those words from everyone, Coby and Alvida gaping at the teenager, while a few pirates poked their heads through the hole in the ceiling and stared in shock. One of them managed to find his voice as he croaked out, "Oh no!"

Alvida's face became red with rage as she brought her club back and screamed, "You little sunuva bitch!" Bringing it forward to slam down onto the black haired teen.

However he merely jumped out of the way, landing light as a feather next to Coby, the floor where he was just standing being smashed in, sending wooden shrapnel everywhere as it happened.

"Let's go!" Luffy said excitedly as he grabbed Coby by his arm, before jumping up and through the hole in the ceiling, getting them both out of that room and onto the deck above, the glasses wearing boy screaming in terror as they did.

The black haired sixteen year old let go of Coby, before beginning to go to town on the Alvida pirates, clobbering them all within moments, not even having to use his ability to beat them all down. While none of them were unconscious, all of them were bleeding and had bruises all over their bodies, they were also on the floor and didn't look like they were going to be getting up anytime soon.

Luffy was pouting at this point, looking over all of them as he said, "You guys are no fun, I barely even touched you, and you're already down for the count? I didn't even get to use my ability, just how weak can you be?" There was no malice behind his words, only disappointment. And as he said these words he stretched out his right cheek quite far, much farther than was humanly possible.

Coby took a few shaky steps towards Luff then, gawking at him with his jaw wide open, "Luffy...what are you?"

"Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you." Luffy said, letting his cheek snap back to it's original position, before speaking again. "I'm a Rubberman."

"So you're...made of rubber?" The pink haired boy repeated in disbelief, not noticing the fact that Alvida now stood behind him at this point. However that changed when she cleared her throat, causing the boy to squeal before running over to and hiding behind his black haired friend.

"So you've eaten one of the Devil Fruits, right?" Alvida asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Yeah, I ate the Gum Gum Fruit." He confirmed.

"I've heard rumors about them, but have never seen any proof of their existence before today." She said idly. "So, are you a bounty hunter, after my head?"

"No, I'm a pirate." Luffy corrected.

"Pirate?" Alvida scoffed, rolling her eyes as she did. "All by yourself on these waters?"

"No! I've got two friends who're joining up with me, all I've gotta do is pick'em up! As for the rest of my crew, I'll find them tomorrow! Or next week or something. I need, I dunno, like eight more guys. Yeah, that would make ten, so that's good."

Alvida laughed, before speaking once more. "Tell me, if we're both pirates and we're not under the same flag...then that makes us enemies, am I right?"

"Luffy, let's go." Coby whispered in fear, trying to get his older friend's attention.

"But why?" He asked in confusion.

"You saw how powerful her club is. And of all the villainous cheats in all these waters she's easily the most..." The pink haired boy suddenly stopped himself mid sentence, staring long and hard at Luffy for the second time that day.

"Go on, tell him." Alvida said with a nasty grin.

The glasses wearing boy began shaking then, his teeth grinding together as he fought to find the right words to say. Finally, after several long moments of internal debate, Coby looked over at the obese woman, and stared straight into her eyes as he shouted out, "You're the most...ugly thing on all of the seas!"

The large woman's eyes narrowed, glaring down at Coby with anger. who was shaking even more now, stunned by his own daring. "What did you just say!?" She screamed.

Thought it was clear that he was terrified, Coby didn't back down from her, not in the slightest, tears burning in his eyes. "I'm leaving your stupid crew and joining the Marines! Then I'm gonna spend the rest of my life beating up dirty pirates like you!"

"Do you have any idea what you're saying to me right now!?" She bellowed.

His courage reaching his peek, he continued to speak up. "Of course I do and I'm gonna do what I want and no one's going to stop me! And when I join the Marines, I'll work as hard as I can and be the best that I can be, and capture all the pirates I can!" Then finally, he screamed out at the top of his lungs, "And I'm gonna capture your nasty ass first!"

Alvida lost it completely at that, raising her 'infamous' iron club high into the air, "You're dead ya little bastard, dead!" Before bringing it down with all her might.

Coby's body froze up as he began screaming, fearing for his life, as he did so he of course failed to notice, that Luffy had stopped laughing, having begun after he called her nasty. "Well said." And with that, the rubberman moved to intercept the blow, taking the full brunt of the attack without any trouble at all.

Luffy's smile widened after he had been hit, the club resting on his head, leaving him completely unharmed, as he said, "That won't work." Causing the large woman's eyes to widen in disbelief as he knocked her club up and finished exlaining with, "Remember what I said? I'm rubber!"

The straw hat pirate then pulled his arm back, sending it back as far as it would stretch, causing it to leave the ship and go out over the ocean, before shooting it forward and ramming his fist into the Alvida's gut, sending her flying far off with a cry of, "Gum Gum...PISTOL!"

Everyone on deck gaped at Luffy, completely disbelieving of the fact that he had taken their captain out with a single hit. They were forced to snap out of it though, as he looked over at them and said, "Hey, one of you, go find a boat and give it to Coby. He's leaving to join the Marines, and none of you are gonna stop him!"

As a few of them got to their feet and scrambled off to do just that, said young pink haired teen was able to overcome his shock and disbelief long enough to thank the older teen. Before he could reply to the glasses wearing kid though, the sound of cannon fire filled the air and the ship was tossed about somewhat violently from the waves all the cannon balls were making, causing everyone to look out where they were coming from, to see that the Marines had finally arrived.

"Huh, talk about great timing." Luffy remarked, before looking to see that the boat he had told them to get was ready, and repared to jump into it and drop down into the sea. Just as he was going to do so, Coby threw himself in there as well, the wooden boat dropping down into the water only a moment later.

As they hit the ocean below, water splashed up everywhere, making it hard to see, and it was more difficult if you took in the fact of all the cannons going off and the extra water their ammo was splashing up. Nevertheless though, through it all, the straw hat pirate who was currently holding tightly on to said treasured item, so as to keep it from falling off his head or flying off his head, could have sworn he saw the distinct orange hair and brown eyes of Nami, even her face was distinctly Nami. She was in a boat similar to his, a large bag of something tied to said wooden sea vessel, and she was wearing black pants, a blue short sleeved shirt and a black bandanna, a sneaking outfit if you will. Their eyes met for just a moment, before the female of them went back to escaping, Coby doing the same for Luffy, causing him to lose sight of her within moments. But, in spite of the fact that he had only seen this person somewhat clearly for a mere moment or so, he couldn't figure out if it had been Nami, as there had been too much chaos at the time, and it wouldn't have been the first time he had seen someone who hadn't actually been there.

Nevertheless, the encounter left Luffy wondering, "Was that Nami I saw?"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	11. The Shells Town Incident Part 1

dmr14wizkid: I don't write lemons, so I'm sorry to tell you that there won't be any in this story. Hope you continue reading regardless though. :)

Zuriahthedragonking: Thanks. You will just have to wait and see if they are or aren't my friend. I'm quite glad you're enjoying my story so, and I'll do my best.

Stabboy: Thank you! And believe me, you have no idea...

F-ckthesystem125: So glad you thought so. And yeah, that was my favorite part, since I didn't have to rehash Cannon with only a few tweaks thrown in.

This chapter has a less Cannon in it than the last one did, however it still has some in it, though with alterations, a big one for the Zoro scene, and some things that never happened as well. Just trust me and read the whole thing before you judge it, okay guys?

Also, as you guys might have noticed, this technically takes place before the beginning of the Cannon timeline. As while in Cannon Luffy set out when he was seventeen, in my story he set out at a little over sixteen and a half, eight months extra to be more specific, which would put us four months before the regular timeline, so things can and very well will happen differently.

One more thing, I'm not happy with the name of this chapter, so if any of you have suggestions on what to call it, I'd be happy to hear them. No guarantee I'll use them though, as I spent fifteen-twenty minutes trying to figure out a name for this chapter, and ended up giving up anyway and just giving it this bland ass name, so I might have already thought of them and turned them down.

Alright, enough of my rambling, here's the next chapter, so please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Coby was staring at everything around him, barely able to believe that he was finally free. "We actually managed to get away."

His eyes continued to wander, until after another few minutes, he began to wonder why his companion was silent, so took a look at him, only to see him lost in thought. "Luffy, is something wrong? You've been quiet ever since we escaped."

The raven haired teen looked to his new pink haired friend at that, before regaining his usual smile, "It's nothing, just thought I saw one of my friends back there is all."

"One of your friends?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah, but I was probably just seeing things. Now that you mention it though, you might be able to help me find one of them. That really fat lady mentioned something about a Pirate Hunter named Zoro?"

"Zoro? Last I heard he was being held prisoner at some Marine base. But what's he got to do with finding one of your friends?"

Luffy's eyes narrowed for a moment, before returning to normal as he asked, "So this Zoro, he got green hair?" Doing so in a way that he barely sounded interested, ignoring the glasses wearing boy's question altogether.

Coby seemed to think that question over for a few moments before answering, "Well, yeah, that's part of the physical description always given about him. But you still haven't told me why you're asking about him." He said, reminding him of his previous question

Luffy's expression became much more serious at that, "It's because he's my friend. And if he's been captured by the Marines, then I've gotta bust him out of wherever they've got him."

Once more the glasses wearing boy became speechless, shell shocked at the words his companion had just spoken. It took him a few seconds, but soon he got over his lack of words, and began screeching like back at the passenger ship. "There's no way! How could someone like Zoro be your friend!? He's as violent as a demon and three times as horrifying!"

At that the straw hat teenager burst out laughing, confusing the pink haired boy greatly as he did. He laughed for several moments, before beginning to speak, doing his best to get his words out through his laughter, "Zoro, horrifying? That's ridiculous! When we were kids, he got pushed around by Nami just as much as I did, and believe me, she's far scarier than he could ever be!"

Coby was perplexed by his new friend's words to say the least, his thoughts on the matter as such, "Zoro? The Zoro? Pushed around by a little girl!? That...that's just impossible!"

About the time Luffy's laughter began to subside, Coby finally managed to form words again. "Besides, even if that is true, chasing him down is just plain reckless! He's probably different than when you knew him, I mean, he's a bad enough guy that the Marines caught him! So it's impossible that he's the same guy you knew! And even if he was, freeing him from the Marines would be impossible! Impossible, you hear me, I said impossible!"

Before he could continue to go on about how impossible it was, Luffy bonked him over the head with his fist once more, slightly harder this time, so as to shut him up.

Having to sit up, as he had been knocked down from the punch, Coby complained, tears in his eyes as he did. "Ow! Why'd you hit me?"

"Because, you're talking stupid. You never leave a friend behind, you always go back for them, no matter what." The dark haired sixteen year old answered seriously.

Once more, this left Coby stunned as he stared up at his new friend, disbelieving of what he was hearing.

* * *

The next day...

Luffy awoke with a heavy yawn, sitting up and stretching out, saying this after he had finished doing so, "Man, what a gorgeous day!"

The raven haired teenager looked out at the ocean, a large smile on his face as he thought about all the adventures that were awaiting him out there. After about a dozen moments or so of this, he turned around to look at Coby, who greeted him good morning with a smile. "So, Coby, how much longer do you think it'll take to get there? I really can't wait to see Zoro again!"

"If we keep this heading, we'll reach the Marine base in no time. But Luffy, you really shouldn't get your hopes up, as I doubt very much this is the same guy you told me about." He said, trying to convince his friend that the man they were going to see wasn't the same person he had known as a child. After all, of all the things said about Pirate Hunter Zoro, him having no sense of direction wasn't among them.

The straw hat teen frowned at that, "Why do you say that?"

"Well for one, I've never heard anything about the Zoro we're looking for having big problems with direction like you said he does, then you said he used two training swords as a child, well the Zoro I'm talking about uses three swords. And finally, the Zoro I speak of is a man who has diced up his bounties like an animal bent on carnage. He's a blood thirsty beast! In fact, he's been called nothing less than a living, breathing demon in human form!" Coby finished, somewhat exasperated by how much he was trying to convey to his new friend that this couldn't be the person he used to know as a kid.

"Demon? Luffy repeated, all the times he had been called such coming unbidden to his mind, the time with Bluejam just having been one of many. In spite of such a fact, he smiled real wide before saying, "Cool! He must have gotten really strong then!"

"How could you think being a demon is cool!?" Coby demanded fearfully.

The smile still plastered onto his face, he answered that, doing so quite bluntly. "I've been called a demon my whole life, so I don't see why it's such a big deal. It's a thing people are called when they're strong or different, that's all." He shrugged his shoulders as he said this.

That effectively shut the younger teen up, his shock evident on his face, as his thoughts whirled, "Luffy? A demon!? That's crazy! Who...?" His thoughts were soon interrupted however, as Luffy asked, "Wait a minute, if Zoro hunts pirates, why's he in prison? I mean wouldn't the Marines want him out in the world hunting?"

"Well, that's because...uh, well..." The younger of the two stuttered, unable to think up an excuse. He struggled to think up some kind of reason for several moments, before finally shouting out, "I don't know why, but I'm sure the Marines must have had a good reason! Maybe he killed someone important or something! It really doesn't matter! You should just forget all about it, cause there's no way this guy is the same one you call friend!"

"And it doesn't matter to me what he did. He's one of my best friends, my brother, no matter what, I won't leave him to the Marines. So stop wasting your breath trying to convince me to, or I'll hit you again." His smile had shrunk as he said this, but still remained on his face, his eyes though told the pink haired boy he was dead serious as he told him this.

Coby's eyes widened to their fullest as he took in everything his friend had said, unable to form words for a few minutes as his thoughts buzzed about crazily once more. He was lost in them as a matter of fact, and would have stayed so, if Luffy hadn't began to shake him for a few moments, before pointing out to where they were heading, his excitement just about palpable as he spoke, "Look Coby, there's the Marine base town, it's right there!"

The pink haired boy quickly noticed his companion was right, so stood up and turned the sails in so that they could catch the wind. As he did, Luffy began to shake the boat in his anticipation of seeing his good friend once more after eight long years, the glasses wearing boy having to cling to one side of the ship after he was done messing with the sail to keep them from tipping over.

By the time they reached the docks, Coby couldn't stop staring at the Marine base across town, it being big enough to see from where they stood, his eyes bright and as big as coins, his wonderment obvious. His pirate friend didn't bother to tie the boat to the dock as he jumped ashore, not bothering to wait for him as he did.

"We're here!" Luffy cried as he began to jump up and down happily, in doing so snapping his friend out of it, causing him to step out of the boat and tie it to the docks himself.

* * *

As Luffy and Coby made their way through town, in the crowded market at this point in time, the latter of them tried to do everything he could to get the former to give up on breaking Zoro out, listing off as many reasons as he could think of, hoping that one of them would get Luffy to understand that he couldn't possibly be the brother he was looking for, as he was a horrible, vicious man. His only response was to laugh and say, "Nah, there's no way! Zoro's a great guy!"

Hearing that four letter name caused all the townspeople to jump back in fear, terror on each and everyone of their faces. Coby didn't notice right away however, as while they did that, he stopped and cried, "He's in prison because he's obviously not a great guy!" Looking ready to tear his hair out as he exclaimed such.

Seeing that Luffy was looking all around them, not paying attention to him, he did so as well, to see the town's reaction to the name Zoro. "Uh...maybe we shouldn't mention the name Zoro around here, alright?" He whispered as they began to walk once more, the people of the town hesitantly all returning to what they had been doing only moments ago.

"Let's head to the base and check it out." He went on as if nothing had happened. "You wanna be a Marine, right?"

"Well of course I do, but I don't really think I'm ready yet Luffy." The glasses wearing kid replied timidly.

As they continued to draw closer to the Marine base, the dark haired sixteen year old voiced his thoughts aloud, "Wonder who runs this place?"

"From what I've heard, the man in charge of this place is supposed to be Marine Captain Morgan." Coby said, trying to answer his friend's question to the best of his knowledge.

Just like with Zoro, as soon as the name Morgan was heard, all the citizens jumped back in alarm, their fright ever so evident.

"This town sure is a jumpy place!" Luffy laughed as he walked on.

Coby looked quite perplexed at this point, "That was odd, I mean I get that they're afraid of Zoro, but why'd they flip when I mentioned the marine captain's name?" The pink haired boy couldn't get rid of the sinking feeling in his gut at this point. "I don't know, I've got a bad feeling about all this."

So caught up in these feelings of his, he didn't notice that Luffy had stopped, and ended up bumping into him from behind, causing him to stumble back and almost lose his glasses. "This looks like the place." After adjusting said item so he could see clearly, he realized that Luffy was right and that they were standing in front of the gate to the Marine base. "I made it." The pink haired boy said with tears in his eyes, before he could say more, more specifically his thanks and goodbye to his straw hat friend, he was climbing up the wall to get a good look at the place, not listening to his younger friend in the slightest.

Seeing this, he began screaming for him to get down, however he paid him no mind as he looked over the wall, searching for Zoro. "Now where is Zoro?"

Calming down slightly, realizing there was no use in yelling as his dark haired friend wasn't going to listen anyway, the glasses boy tried to explain to him, "They wouldn't keep him out in the open Luffy. He's probably locked away in a prison cell somewhere underground."

Once more proving he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to his pink haired friend, the black haired teen exclaimed, "There he is!" Before jumping off the wall and running to the other side of the base. Coby couldn't help but gape as he did this, "No way, it can't be him Luffy!" Having to chase after his friend as he did.

Once on the other side of the base, the older of the two began climbing up to look over the wall once more, the younger following a moment later as he said, "I'm telling you Luffy, there's no way he's out here, that-" He cut himself off as he gasped at what he saw.

There in the middle of the yard, tied to a cross shaped post with the hot sun beating down on him, was a green haired man that was indeed the Pirate Hunter that the pink haired boy had heard so much about. He wore a plain white shirt with three undone buttons at the collar, a green haramaki, black trousers that were tucked into his black boots, as well as a black bandanna that covered his eyes. The last noticeable thing were the three identical gold earrings on his left earlobe.

He was thin, filthy and looked exhausted as he hung there, but with his bandanna in the way, his expression couldn't be seen. Though weak and obviously starved, he still projected a menacing aura, which just caused Coby to fear him all the more. "Look Luffy, please listen to me, this guy couldn't possibly be-" He cut himself off however as he glanced over at Luffy, to see his straw hat overshadowing his eyes, all joy gone from his face, looking a little scary himself as he said, "That's Zoro, I'm sure of it."

With that said, the sixteen year old climbed over the edge of the wall and dropped to his feet on the other side, slowly beginning to make his way towards his old friend after he did, leaving Coby frozen on the wall, completely lost as to what to do.

Before the dark haired yet to be seventeen year old could make it to him, the green haired man spoke, not bothering to look up as he growled at them in annoyance. "Get lost whoever you are, I don't want any company." However while he heard a squeal of fear from someone farther away, the one closer to him stopped only for a moment, before continuing to come forward toward him.

"I told you to leave me alone, didn't I!?" He barked once more, not that the other party paid it any heed, coming to a stop less than three feet from him. That's when he suddenly felt it, the familiarity of this presence, it was...

Just as he was about to realize who it was, he felt something placed on his head, immediately knowing it was a straw hat, the straw hat, his head shot up, the sight greeting him being Luffy's somewhat older face, his joy once more there, causing the older man's eyes to widen to their fullest. "L-Luffy..." His shock was evident.

A face splitting grin crossed Luffy's mug then, after he had placed his hat on his brother's head, and he said, "I finally found you Zoro."

The eighteen year old's shock vanished then, as a face splitting grin of his own made it's appearance, "It's great to see you again, Captain."

Coby nearly fell off the wall at the revelation that the Zoro that was so feared and the one Luffy spent a couple years with were one in the same.

"I honestly expected that Devil Girl to be with you, I was sure you'd have gone to get her first."

"I was gonna, but I got lost!" Luffy said with a few chuckles.

Mirth in his voice, Zoro said, "I see, guess I should have expected that from you."

"Hey, you get lost way more than I do!"

"Says who!?"

"Everyone!"

"Oh yeah!?"

"Yeah!"

Coby wasn't sure what to make of the scene, the two were arguing, loudly, but they still had enormous smiles on their faces as they did. And just as fast as it started, it ended.

"So, ready to break out of here and go find Nami?" Luffy asked, as if their argument had never happened, his smile still present.

Zoro's smile shrunk a bit at that, shaking his head as it did. "Afraid not Captain, I've still got nine days left."

Luffy tilted his head to the side at that, "Nine days left? Nine days left before what?"

It was then that Zoro explained to his best friend that almost a month ago, twenty one days to be exact, the snotty, stuck up son of the marine captain of this place, his name was Helmeppo he had found out after being tied up for a few days, came into a small restaurant he had been eating in, owned by a kind woman with a young daughter. Bringing his 'dog', actually a vicious wolf, in with him, and letting it cause havoc and property damage, scaring the other customers in the process. When the woman's daughter, named Rika, had enough of this and tried to shoo it out, it attacked her and tried to kill her, going for the throat as it did. So he killed the mangy thing, however Helmeppo saw this as a crime, an act of aggression, towards himself. So he gave him an ultimatum, he could either receive punishment for his actions, having to be imprisoned for thirty days with no food, or Rika and her Mother would be executed. To sweeten the deal, he said that if he could survive the month, that he would be free to leave once said thirty days were up, so he had agreed.

Luffy nodded his head, his hand on his chin, as he said, "I see, I see..."

The green haired man rolled his eyes as his younger friend did this, as it was partially to mock the older man.

"If it had been me, I'd have starved in three days, no doubt." Luffy then stated, taking his hand off his chin and becoming slightly more serious as he did.

Zoro's grin widened back to it's original length as he replied to that statement, "Yeah, no shit. Your stomach is a bottomless pit Luffy, you can't go more than eight hours without some kind of food before you begin whining. And that's only if it's a hefty helping."

Not insulted in the slightest, Luffy agreed with him. "Yep!" Laughing after saying this.

"Well, see ya later Zoro." As the hatless straw hat teen turned to begin walking away, Zoro quickly said, "Wait, wait, Luffy, don't forget your hat."

Turning back to look at him, his grin managed to widen as he said, "You keep it, it'll help with the heat. I'll pick it up when it's time for you to leave. Until then, I'll just wait here in town for you."

Zoro was stunned at that, his smile falling away out of pure shock, "Luffy..." Only a few moments later though, his face splitting grin returned, even wider this time as he said, "I'll make sure to take good care of it Captain, promise."

"Don't worry, I know you will."

With that the sixteen year old went to and climbed the wall from the opposite side, before he could get over it though, a ladder was placed up against the wall opposite of him, the person climbing to the top of it until they were face to face with the rubberman, it turning out to be that little girl Zoro had spoken of, Rika. Seemingly not surprised to see them, she only put her index finger to her lips in a silent gesture to be quiet, before getting ready to use a rope to let herself down. She needn't have bothered though, as Luffy lifted her up and stretched his arms so he could place her inside the walls safely on her feet, a small package clutched to her chest as this happened.

She mouthed her thanks, before turning and running up to Zoro, the dark haired teenager climbing over to the other side with Coby as this happened.

She stopped only two feet from him, a kind smile on her face. "What do you want?" He asked irritably, his smile now gone.

"I figured you must be starving, so I made you a couple rice balls." She answered as she unwrapped the package to reveal said rice balls, not mentioning the straw hat he now wore.

"You got a death wish kid? Just scram." He replied, trying to get her to go away.

"But you haven't eaten anything the whole time you've been tied up." The girl said persistently as she held up the two rice balls for him. "Here, I've never really made them before, but I did my best and I think they're fine."

"Listen kid, I'm not hungry! Now stop irritating me and get out of here!" He snapped.

She looked hurt at those words, but did not show any intention of leaving. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Zoro then yelled, "Do not make me kick your ass little girl!"

That's when Luffy spoke up, catching everyone's attention, "Zoro!" With all eyes now on him, he proceeded to say, "Eat them."

The green haired man looked ready to object, just before he could though, the hatless straw hat pirate spoke once more, "Eat them Zoro, captain's order."

Zoro's frown turned into a scowl at that, glancing towards the entrance to the courtyard and the base, before turning his head back and sighing. "Fine, give'em to me."

Those words seemed to cheer the girl up, as she took one and held it up to him, him leaning down to take it into his mouth and proceeding to devour it, doing the same with the second only moments later. After finishing them, he looked down into her eyes as he gave thanks for the food. "It was delicious. Thank you for the food." He spoke these words with sincerity.

"You really like them?" She asked, her eyes wide with hope.

Nodding his head, he repeated himself, "They were delicious."

"I'm so glad you think so!" Hey eyes were even wider now, filled with joy this time.

That's when Zoro noticed his captain smiling, so he looked towards him, and couldn't help but return the smile. However the moment was soured, as the sound of footsteps caught everyone's attention, Helmeppo coming towards the man and girl, two marines by his side. "And just what do we have here? A little girl? Here to help Zoro I presume?" He said in an obnoxious voice...which was his normal tone.

The girl took a single step back as they continued to come closer, the worry evident in her eyes. For good reason to, as the blonde whiny guy pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket and said, "You must not have read the notice that was posted, 'Those who assist criminals in any way will be executed.' Signed by Marine Captain Morgan." Putting it back in the jacket of his purple suit after saying this.

Rika turned pale as she looked up at him fear, as he came to a stop in front of her. Seeing her reaction, the blonde said cockily, "It seems even little brats fear my daddy."

"His daddy?" Luffy repeated unbeknownst to said marine son.

"So that guy's father is Captain Morgan?" Coby repeated as well, but in astonishment.

Helmeppo turned towards one of his men then and gave the order to, "You, toss this kid out now."

Said marine looked apprehensive to do so, "But Sir, she's only a little girl."

The blonde obviously didn't like this, as he grabbed the soldier by the collar of his shirt and got in his face as he yelled, "I said throw her over the wall soldier! Now if you're not gonna follow my orders, then I'll just have to tell my father when he gets back."

"Y-yes Sir, I'll do as you said!" He said in fear, getting him to let go, which allowed him to walk over to her and gently pick her up. Just before he tossed her, he whispered, "Curl into a ball, it'll hurt less that way." His voice held honest remorse for what he was about to do.

As she was tossed over the wall, Luffy dropped off the wall, before stretching out and grabbing ahold of her, before pulling her to him and placing her gently on the ground. "You okay?"

Tears in her eyes, she nodded her head. "Y-yeah."

Coby then began to fret over her, asking aloud, though mostly to himself, how someone could abuse power like that. As he did, Luffy stretched his neck so as to look over the wall, so as to check on his friend, to see this...

"Hmm, a straw hat, where'd you get that? That little girl give it to you?" Helmeppo asked, as he began reaching for it.

Zoro however wouldn't allow it and moved his head to the side, causing the blonde's hand to miss. He quickly tried again, only for the same outcome. This was repeated a few times, before the marine captain's son stamped his foot down in anger and annoyance, "Stop moving damn it!"

With that he reached out once more and just almost managed to touch the hat, just before he could come into contact with it though, Zoro jerked his head away, pulling it away from the whiny brat's hand, without causing it to fall off of course. Then, he looked into his eyes and began projecting the most intimidating aura he was capable of at that moment. "Don't. Touch. The. Hat. Or you're dead." He growled, nearly causing Helmeppo to piss himself as he did.

After a moment though, he quickly shoved his fear down, before exclaiming, "Y-you don't scare me! My daddy is Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan, so I can do anything I want! Including take that hat of yours!" With that said, he reached for the straw hat once more.

Before he could lay his hand on it though, Zoro's head shot forward and he bit down on the blonde's hand as hard as he could, breaking the skin and causing the spoiled brat's blood to fill his mouth, in turn causing him to scream out in pain and horror at the top of his lungs.

He quickly began trying to yank his hand out of the green haired man's mouth, however that only succeeded in bringing him more pain, as the swordsman was digging his teeth in there as deep as he could. Thankfully, for that brat anyways, the two marine guards helped pull him from behind, after they had finished freaking out of course, all three of them managing to get his hand out from between the green haired man's teeth. As they did, they realized just how bad it was, as the blonde's hand was covered in blood, so they knew they had to quickly rush him inside to get medical treatment. Before they could though, they had to pick him up off the ground, as he fell to it after being released from the grip of the eighteen year old's jaw, him scrambling backwards a few feet, his face filled with terror. "Ho-how cou-could you do s-something like this!? Yo-you really are a demon!"

Blood covering his bottom lip and chin, a crazed look in his eyes, the green haired man proceeded to speak, having to spit out the excess blood in his mouth first of course. "This hat belongs to my best friend in the whole world, my brother, and I won't allow the likes of you to touch it, no matter the circumstances."

As he was rushed to the infirmary by his two guards, Helmeppo cried out, "You're fucking insane!"

That of course got Coby and Rika's attention, just as the screaming did, however they didn't know what had happened, and Luffy intended to keep it that way. So he quickly brought his neck back to it's original length, before turning to Rika and speaking once more, "Okay, let's get you home." Neither of the other two objected, but Luffy would have made them leave if they had done so.

As they made their way away from the base, Luffy couldn't banish the scene that had just occurred from his mind, as it kept playing itself over and over in his head.

* * *

As a somewhat large marine vessel pulled into the docks, everyone in town who was there to see it do so began to panic, before quickly running and finding a place to hide. For good reason to, as only moments later, none other than Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan came marching off the ship, twenty of his marines behind him escorting roughly a dozen prisoners. Not seeing anyone around, there was no reason to stop, so the marine captain led his men, who in turn led the prisoners, through town and towards the base.

As they marched onward, one marine in the back, sweat running down his face and hands shaking, began to make his nervousness and fear known audibly, though only loud enough for his buddy beside him to hear. "Oh man, what did we do? What did we do!? Who knows what he'll do to us for this!"

His friend, also sweating, but obviously not as worried as his comrade, still worried nevertheless though, quickly said, "Shut up man, or you'll get us killed!"

"But what are we gonna do!? We stole these prisoners right out from under Captain Smoker's nose, no way he'll take that lying down! Not only were we in his town, but he's the one who defeated them! When he finds out we're trying to take the credit, he'll-"

"Shut it, shut it damn you!" The second marine whispered harshly. "Don't forget, we seized these prisoners on Captain Morgan's order! And if hears you talking like that, he'll lop off your head for sure!"

The first marine was forced to do as his friend told him, as he wasn't sure he could trust his voice anymore, considering all the fear that was consuming him. Just in time as well, as only a moment later Morgan glanced behind him to look at his men, his prisoners, and if anyone else was out and about. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he turned back and began to lead the way once more.

* * *

Luffy, Coby and Rika now all sat on bar stools at the counter of her mother's restaurant, however taking the young girl home hadn't cheered her up. In fact, even more tears were threatening to fall from her eyes after she found out they knew the situation and told them, "It's been three weeks since that happened. Helmeppo keeps punching and kicking him, he doesn't stop, not even for a single day! He's being so unfair!" That's when her tears finally began to fall, " I-I don't know...don't know how to help him."

"I can see why you're upset." Coby whispered, this little girl's tears driving home this situation, and how screwed up the marines here were.

Just then, everyone's attention, except for Luffy's, was pulled to Helmeppo as he entered the establishment, his two guards in tow. He took a seat at the first table he came across, putting his feet up on it roughly, almost knocking the bowl of fruit on it off of it. "I'm hungry, bring us whatever you have and keep the check for yourself!" He called obnoxiously. "And bring me a bottle of your finest beer, or moonshine, or whatever crap you serve. And make it snappy lady, I don't have all day!" As he spoke, no one seemed to notice the fact that his right hand was bandaged up to the point where you could barely see the flesh of it at all.

Rika's mother did as she was told, fearing for her and her daughter's safety as she came to the blonde with a bottle of wine in her hands. As she began pouring some into his glass, which she had also brought him, he began to laugh for a few moments before speaking, "I've been trying to think of something to kill the boredom I've been plagued with recently." He told everyone in the restaurant, doing so purely to show he could do whatever he wanted. "So, I've decided to have Zoro executed tomorrow. Look forward to it everyone." Little did most people know, he was also doing this because of what happened in the courtyard.

Luffy's eyes became filled with rage as he heard those words, as soon as he came off his stool, he was charging. He closed the distance between him and Helmeppo, before decking him so hard he went flying into the wall at the end of the establishment, his head busting through said wooden wall.

Everyone watched as this happened, their shock and disbelief evident. Two people in particular though, the two marine guards he came in with, snapped themselves out of it and ran to his aid, helping to pull his head out of the wall, leaving a big hole in it.

Helmeppo was now barely conscious, his head busted open, his nose broken, and a nasty bruise forming on his face, though it was hard to tell with the blood of course. Because of all this, it took him more than a dozen moments to regain his wits, though he didn't regain all of them, as in his not fully conscious state, he seemed to forget about the incident with Zoro. This seemed to be the case, as he was obviously unbelieving of the situation, proving so as he stuttered out, "Y-you j-just, you just hit me!"

And Luffy would have already done so again if Coby wasn't doing his best to restrain him, though it was only working because the older teen didn't want to hurt the younger one. "Luffy, no! You can't hit him!"

"This guy's scum!" Luffy growled, his eyes wild, everyone now staring at him.

Despite the fear he felt at the look in the raven haired teenager's eyes, his shock overriding his fear, he spoke once more. "You hit me, you actually hit me!" The blonde yelled like the spoiled brat he was. "I'm Captain Morgan's son you know!"

"Yeah, like I care!" Luffy yelled as he managed to take a large step forward without harming his pink haired friend.

Tears building in his eyes, he then proclaimed, "Y-you, you just wait until my daddy gets here! When he does, he's gonna execute you!"

"Oh yeah!? Then I'll just have to switch it up a bit and punch him in the face too!" Luffy stated with heat, holding his fist up, looking ready to go a few rounds as he did.

"Luffy, just ease off a bit! Why are you trying to get on the Marines bad side?" Coby inquired as he struggled to hold his older friend. As he asked this, the hatless straw hat pirate looked ready to go whether he hurt the glasses wearing boy or not.

Seeing him raise his fist and that look come into his eyes, the one oh so similar to the one Zoro had only minutes ago, caused the blonde to freeze in terror, but only for a moment. Now knowing he could be killed, what with what Zoro had done still fresh in his mind, now it was at least, and with Luffy looking so alike him for a moment, Helmeppo didn't even need his guards to help him to his feet, before he was scrambling out of there as fast as he possibly could and running back to the Marine base, the two soldiers following behind him.

As Luffy forcibly, but not using enough force to actually hurt him though, removed Coby from his person, turning around to face him and passionately claim that he wouldn't let this happen, he failed to notice a short orange haired woman in the back of the restaurant, hiding behind a menu. This woman wore a short sleeve white and blue striped shirt, an orange mini-skirt with white rings on each side and short brown heeled boots. And as soon as the hatless straw hat boy turned his back on her, she dropped her menu and made a hasty exit, no one being the wiser of the fact that she had ever been there in the first place.

* * *

As soon as Nami was outside, she turned to her left to head to the docks, but before she could take her first step, she was shoved into the wall with a bark of, "Get out of my way girl!"

Nami winced at the rough treatment, but didn't speak any of the not so lady like words that came to her mind with the situation at hand, as the man who had done so was clearly a marine, and the fact that he had an axe for a hand let her know that he was obviously the marine captain of this island, Axe-Hand Morgan. Said man being a tall, tanned, imposing man, with whitish blonde hair, metal jaw, and, obviously, an axe for a hand, his right one to be specific. He wore a black sleeveless shirt with a marine coat over that and blue pants with many odd shaped splashes of black scattered across them.

Besides, as he passed her by, heading to the marine base with his men and some prisoners in tow, all she could think off was getting off the island before a certain raven haired sixteen year old noticed her presence. So once they had passed, she continued on towards the docks.

Since she was rushing, she got there within only a few minutes, stepping into her small row boat and preparing to untie it from the dock, as well as take off. Just before she could though, the sight of a ship caught her attention, it was pulling up to the side of the dock. It was obviously a pirate ship, judging by it's jolly roger and all, but what really caught her interest was that the jolly roger of that ship belonged to none other than the Buggy Pirates. She couldn't help but wonder, "Why on Earth would they come to Shells town? I mean it's home to a Marine base for christs sake."

Nevertheless, it lowered anchor, though not in an area it was allowed to, and the crew began to disembark. A few of them were wheeling a cannon, while several more were carrying large red cannon balls with Buggy's mark on them.

After them came a man sitting on top of a large lion, said man had a peculiar white hairstyle, and wore a peculiar white fur mid-riff exposing sleeveless...shirt? Nami honestly couldn't tell. As well as blue ankle length trousers and a long yellow sash tied around his waist. Along with him came a decent deal of Buggy pirates.

After him came a man riding a unicycle, who had a unique hairstyle that covered half his face. Half his head was mostly shaved, it being light green in color, and the other half was much longer, long enough to cover half of his face, and was dark green. He wore a large blue and white checkered scarf, a sleeveless dark purple coat reaching down to his knees, white pants that were larger near the end, that were held up by a light blue sash, and a pair of white shoes. Along with him came two handfuls of Buggy pirates.

Finally, then came the captain, the clown pirate, Buggy. The first thing to draw attention to him was his big red nose and blue hair, then it was the makeup, him having crossbones going down his face, forming an X, and two blue lines near both his eyes, as well as a bunch of red lipstick, actually making him look like a clown. Then it was his clothing, said garments consisting of a short sleeved white and red striped shirt, white gloves, a green sash around his waist, a pair of light greenish cyan blue loose fitting pants reaching to his calves, just above a pair of white and red striped socks and a pair of red pointy shoes. And finally, there was also a purple scarf, an orange, fur lined captain's coat, and an orange pirate hat with his jolly roger on it, which sat over his bandanna, which had the same pattern as his shirt.

And there, tucked in his sash, more specifically located on his right hip, was something she had recently heard he had acquired, that she had planned to steal from him once she had tracked him down, a map of the Grand Line. So, the orange haired girl now had a dilemma, did she leave the island like she had planned, so as to make sure Luffy and Zoro never found her? Or, did she stick around long enough to steal that map from Buggy's greedy little hands, before then taking off, but at the same time risk getting caught by the very two men she wished to avoid at all costs? It was a difficult decision to make. However, thinking of how much cash that map would net her, it became all too obvious which one to pick.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	12. The Shells Town Incident Part 2

F-ckthesystem125: So glad you noticed. Well you don't have to wait any longer, as here's the next chapter. :)

dmr14wizkid: Well, I already stated this story contains LuNa, so...yeah, you don't need to ask for that, it's coming, don't you worry.

Stabboy: Thank you, I'm glad you thought so. And as for getting it out fast, like I said, not even I know when I will update, as it's all circumstantial. You're quite welcome. You shall wait no longer, as it is here! XP

ArturiusRex8: For the Zoro question, well kind of, yeah. Plus, I still feel like it was inevitable for Zoro to get himself into this situation, at least in this universe at least. I feel like he would have gotten himself into this situation no matter what time he came here, so...yeah that's about it. As for the Nami question, yes? Not exactly sure what you're asking, so...not sure how to answer. Finally, as for you not being sure what to think of the story, that's fine by me. I usually don't decide whether I'll read a story until around chapter seven or so, sometimes later, sometimes sooner, so it really doesn't bother me. Take your time, and if you don't find the story to your liking, I'm quite sorry, and I hope you find something that you like more. And I'd also like to thank you for even deciding to check it out in the first place. :)

midnightscar17: You'll find out soon, don't worry. As for why I don't do Lemons, there are two reasons, the first is that I suck at writing them, the second is that they aren't really my thing, which works out well for me. So yeah, there's why there won't be any Lemons in this story.

Tonlor: All in one sitting? Sounds like what I do when I read fan fiction. I'm so glad you seem to be enjoying the story. As for Zoro, I don't know many people who don't like him to at least some kind of degree, as he's just one of the best/coolest characters in the OP universe, at least in my opinion anyway. Hope this is soon enough for ya. :)

Alright now, it's time for the next chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Luffy was now marching through the streets, the determination in his eyes able to be seen by anyone who bothered to actually look. Coby and Rika were following behind him, having to run to do so, the former of them continuously trying to calm him down, despite him saying don't try and stop him, he still tried to do so however. He did this in hopes that if he could get him to come down from his high level of anger just a bit, he could at least convince him to agree to a stealthy approach when it came to busting Zoro out of the Marine base. However, the straw hat pirate wasn't having any of it, "Are these the kind of Marines you want to join Coby!?" He stopped, turned around and asked him. "Because if they aren't, then you can either sit back and take it...or stand up to them!"

Coby stopped in his tracks and blinked at those words, unsure of what to say, or what to do, but it was obvious the older teen wasn't expecting an answer, as he then looked to Rika, who looked fearful and was wringing her hands in an effort to relieve said fear, though it obviously wasn't helping. "But what are you going to do? Helmeppo's going to have you killed! Captain Morgan has executed people for a lot less than what you just did!"

The fierceness in the sixteen year old's eyes only increased as he said, "I'd like to see him try."

Then, before either younger party could object once more, he gave them a thumbs up, before turning back around and rushing to the Marine base.

The raven haired teen didn't stop running until he reached the wall, jumping easily over that and rushing to the post Zoro was tied to afterwards. Said man being asleep, but was quickly awoken as he felt someone begin trying to untie him. "Huh, wha? Luffy? What are you doing? I only have nine days left, remember?" He asked, sounding just a tad irritated.

As the hatless straw hat boy continued to fiddle with the ropes, he quickly explained to his green haired friend why he was wrong. "That stupid marine's bastard son lied! He's planning on having you executed tomorrow!"

"What? Dammit! Are you telling me I've been tied to this thing for three fricking weeks for no reason!? I'll get that bastard!"

The dark haired teenager nodded his head in agreement as he messed with the ropes, "That's what I was thinking."

That's when the bandanna and straw hat wearing man realized the ropes were getting tighter, not looser, "Hey, hey, Luffy! You're making the knots tighter numskull!"

Those words got the teenager to stop, standing up straight as he did so, scratching his head while saying, "What is it with these things? Zoro, is this some kind of special rope or something?"

"No! You just can't handle a knot to save your life! Everyone but you managed to figure that out after the bear incident! You know, when you were supposed to tie a basket of food to a branch in a tree to keep it away from the bear that was stalking us, and ended up tying YOURSELF TO THE GODDAMNED BEAR INSTEAD!" He shouted with heat, breathing a little heavily afterward, as he was a little exasperated, and just plain exhausted all around.

Luffy began rubbing the back of his head with his left hand, a tiny smirk crossing his face as he seemed to remember what his friend was talking about. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

Knowing he wouldn't get anywhere with Luffy, as he knew him well enough to know you never could, well he could, but not when he was starving to death and all around felt like shit, so he just shook his head and dropped the subject. "Look Luffy, just forget it. Go and find my swords, if you bring them to me, then I'll be able to cut myself free, no problem."

Luffy nodded his head once more at that, "Right, that's way easier than dealing with these stupid ropes."

With that he turned and ran off, in the wrong direction, before Zoro could say anything about this though, Luffy came skidding to a stop, before whirling around and throwing his arms out, stretching them until they were able to grab ahold of the roof. From there he took several steps back, stretching his arms out even more, before snapping towards his arms, sending him flying up towards the roof, doing so with a cry of, "Gum Gum...Rocket!"

As he did, it finally occurred to Zoro what he had forgotten to tell his younger friend, "Crap, he doesn't know that I use three swords!" He would have facepalmed if he were able to as he realized this.

* * *

Helmeppo was pacing about in his room, having a little meltdown, as two people had dared to harm him this day, and it was screwing with his head. "I don't understand, how could they do this to me!? I'm the son of Captain Morgan! No one dares to slight me, let alone hurt me! Daddy'll deal with them though, I know he will! I just have to wait until he gets back, and then they'll get what's coming to them!"

As he came to a stop, he saw out of his peripheral vision that his father had just passed him, being able to see this because he had left his door half open. Since that was the case, he quickly exited his room, forgetting to close the door as he did, and chased after his father, who was heading to the roof.

He didn't manage to catch up to him until they reached the roof, where twenty or so marines were trying to put up a statue of his dad, heaving it into place with ropes. "Daddy, somebody hit me!" Was the first thing out of his mouth once he had caught up though.

Morgan turned to look back at his son at that, looking him up an down for a moment, before sneering, "For wearing the purple suit, you more than deserved it."

Helmeppo was more than a little taken back by that, but managed to get over it, for some reason thinking his father had been joking. "That wasn't funny daddy! Now seriously, aren't you going to execute the person who hit me!? And then there's Zoro, he bit me, and he wouldn't let go, he was like a rabid animal! He needs to be put down as well! One of them outright struck me in public, and the other took a bite out of me, I mean, look at my hand!" He then raised his right hand, which had about ninety to ninety five percent of it covered in bandages. "You've never laid a finger on me before, why should they be able to!?" He finished with a yell.

Morgan had turned back around after speaking to his son, and hadn't turned to face him throughout everything he said, and that stayed that way, even as he began replying to him. "Do you have any remote idea as to why I've never hit you Helmeppo?"

That seemed to lighten the blonde's mood a little. "Is it because you think I'm great, like you?" He asked hopefully.

"No, it's because..." Then, without any warning, the older whitish blonde man whirled around, decking his son in the face with his left fist as he did, sending him to the floor of the roof, almost knocking him off the building as he did. "...You're a stupid fool, who isn't even worth hitting. You seemed to have gotten the wrong idea..." As he said this he began to take steps towards his son, causing the younger man to begin squealing in fear. This didn't last long though, as he used the wooden stub at the end of his axe hand to lift the younger blonde up by the collar of his suit, bringing them face to face, causing him to go silent as he grit his teeth, closed his eyes and looked away, scared of what was to come. "The only great one around here, is the man you call your father! And if you ever so much as entertain the thought of comparing yourself to me again, then you will be the one who is executed next!"

He then tossed his son back onto the rooftop, turning around once more as he spoke again, "Which reminds me, I heard a rat snuck into the crucifixion yard."

Seeing that as his way out of being harmed by his father, Helmeppo desperately clung to it, as he replied, "Yes, that's right, the little girl. But I-I had her dealt with."

"I hope that means killed." Morgan told him.

Helmeppo's eyes managed to widen even further, as they were already quite wide, at those words, "Wha? No, I-I didn't kill her, she's just a kid."

Not liking that answer, the marine captain pointed towards one of the marines that wasn't hoisting up his statue and gave him an order. "You there, go into town, find this girl, and kill her."

The soldier was understandably disbelieving of the words he had just heard. "Bu-but Sir, you can't be serious! I mean, she's just a little girl Sir!"

"I don't care if she's a child or not! Anyone who disobeys my orders, or goes against what I say, is a traitor. And therefor will be dealt with." The marine captain barked.

"No Sir, I-I just can't do it."

Morgan didn't looked please by that, not in the slightest, especially with the menacing way he began to walk towards the marine who had spoken these words. "Is that so? Then die traitor!" With that, once he was close enough, he beheaded the man with one swing of his axe hand, his head hitting the floor and rolling a couple feet, as blood began to spurt from his neck, and his body collapsed onto the roof.

Upon seeing this, any marine who wasn't pulling up the statue paled and took a step back, one or two of them even losing their lunches.

Helmeppo on the other hand, let out a somewhat girly shriek, his fear and shock apparent, stuttering this out after his scream ended. "Y-you j-just killed h-him!"

Morgan then proceeded to give a speech, two marines beginning to clean up the mess he had made as he did. "My strength is what I used to rise to the rank of captain, therefor I am stronger than all of you combined, and deserve this title of mine more than any of you ever could! Listen, in this world, titles are what matter, in fact, they are all that matters. That means by being the captain of this base, and the highest ranking officer, I am the most superior person as far as the eye can see. This means that I do everything right, and I can do nothing wrong. Am I, or am I not correct...well men!?"

All marines who weren't putting the statue into it's proper place, snapped to a salute and said the words that would keep them alive. "Sir, you are correct Sir!"

Morgan almost seemed to smile at that. "Good."

He then looked towards his statue, which was just one good heave ho from being fully erected, and spoke once more, "Let's put killing the girl on hold for now, as what's most important at the moment, is getting the greatest symbol of my unending authority put up for the world to behold, allowing everyone to see my greatness. It took years to complete, but here it is. Now, stand it up in one final pull men!"

With much effort, the marines managed to do just that, putting the big stone statue of the ugly marine captain up just the way he wanted it. However, said man didn't get to admire his statue for more than a few moments before his attention was on something else, more specifically, a boy who barely looked sixteen flying up above their heads.

As Luffy let go of the edge of the roof, he realized he had shot himself too far up, so quickly stretched his right arm to grab ahold of the edge he had held only a moment ago, so as to pull himself down onto the rooftop, doing so quite successfully.

Now firmly on his feet, he turned to face everyone that was on the roof, greeting them with wave, "Hi there!"

"Who the hell is this?" Morgan demanded.

"That's him! He's the one who punched me daddy!"

Luffy's smile fell from his face then, lowering his head a little, causing some strands of his dark hair to cover his eyes partially."You're this scum's father then? You're the one who has everyone executed?"

Sneering once more, Morgan readily confirmed that. "Indeed I am. As it is my right! For I am Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan, and am superior to all!"

"And Zoro? Are you going to execute him?"

"Why do you want to know? He your friend? Yes, for your information, he's next on the chopping block. And after that, I think I'll put you to death, as you're interrupting me. I wanted to enjoy the sight of my statue for another few moments before I executed him, but you've made it where I'll have to get back to work straight away, so perhaps instead of waiting, I'll just execute you and Zoro at the same time, how does that sound?"

Luffy raised his head to look into the marine captain's eyes then, the fierceness from before having returned. "You wanted to admire your statue!? You want to look at a stupid hunk of stone before killing my best friend!? The fact that you could say something like that...proves you're even worse than your stupid son! But if you want to look at the damn thing so much, then fine!"

With that said, Luffy turned to face the newly erected stone statue, before bringing his right arm back and shooting it forward, it stretching so as to allow him to reach his target. "Gum Gum Pistol!" As his fist collided with the head of the stone statue, it shattered into a hundred pieces, and as it did so, Luffy cried, his arm snapping back to it's original length as it did, "There, look at it! LOOK AT IT!"

Everyone on the roof, Morgan the only exception, stared slack-jawed at the statue, their eyes as wide as they could be, their disbelief quite evident.

Morgan was furious, proving so as he bellowed, "SEIZE THAT SUNUVA BITCH SO I CAN KILL HIM MYSELF!"

Before his subordinates could do as they were told, Luffy ran to the statue, jumped into the air, having to turn around in mid air so he could face it's back, and kicked it in it's upper back, though not hard enough to break it, but still hard enough to crack it and send it falling towards the marine captain and all his men, "SEIZE THIS YOU BASTARD!"

The marines quickly began to panic and scream, doing their best to run to the only door that led back into the building, and while they all made it there quick enough, and got the door open, only one or two of them had managed to squeeze through, as they had all gotten themselves stuck in the doorway because they had tried to go through it all at once. If they didn't get themselves inside soon, then it could end in their deaths. They didn't need to worry about this for long, as Luffy, who was still in the air, stretched his arms to the point where he could grab ahold of the sides of the doorway, and proceeded to rocket himself down to and through said doorway, grabbing a hold of Helmeppo as he did so, in doing so he rammed all of the marines through the doorway as well, the door being ripped off it's hinges as this happened.

* * *

Zoro had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on up there, hearing Luffy scream in anger twice, someone else scream, and a huge smashing noise, like a bunch of stone slamming into something, told him though that his rubber friend had gotten into trouble again. He didn't get to think on it for too long however, as the sight of someone climbing over the wall and coming towards him caught his attention.

Just as he realized it was the pink haired kid that had been with Luffy before, he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes going wide with disbelief, "Wh-wha-what on Earth hap-happened!?"

Turning his head to where the glasses wearing boy was looking, he saw that the roof of the Marine base had caved in, how they didn't know, but there was a lot of gray dust coming from the floor that had been under the rooftop, it rising from the now ceilingless floor of the building. This only caused the green haired man to grin, "Way to go Luffy." Which of course caught Coby's attention.

"You-you're saying Luffy did that!?"

Looking back towards the young teen, he responded with, "I'd bet my life on it. Whatever he did must have had something to do with that ridiculous statue that Morgan guy put up of himself, cause it's gone too. Yep, definitely Luffy's work."

After the younger teen got ahold of himself, he quickly began to untie the swordsman. As he did he tried to explain why he was doing so, but he was cut off and told that the he already knew. About halfway through he noticed the blood on his face, so, gulping nervously as he did, he asked, "So, uh, who's blood is that?" He finished untying the swordsman then, the ropes falling uselessly to the ground and the eighteen year old beginning to stretch afterward.

"You really wanna know?" He asked after finishing getting all the cricks out of his body.

Coby paled slightly, "On second thought, I suppose I don't want to know."

Zoro shrugged then, wiping the blood away after doing so, turning to face the Marine base, though he didn't go towards it. He just stood there, crossed his arms and waited.

The pink haired teen was quick to ask, "What are you doing!? Aren't you going to help Luffy!?"

"He doesn't need my help. He'll be out here with my swords soon, and I don't want to miss him and spend the rest of the day trying to track him down, since he always gets lost."

The glasses wearing boy seemed confused at that, "But I was told you were the one who always gets lost."

Before the green haired man could respond to that, a call from their mutual friend got their attention, "Hey guys!"

They then looked up to see him sticking his head out a window, before stepping back and rocketing himself out of there and down to them, landing firmly on his feet beside Zoro, three swords strapped to his back. The two old friends high fived, before the younger of the two took the swords off his back and handed them to the older one, which he took and properly attached to his right hip. "Coby told me that you used three swords now, so I made sure to grab all of them."

"Glad he did, I was worried that you'd only grab two of them when you rocketed out of sight."

They were both smiling as they exchanged words, and items, as Zoro took the straw hat off of his head and placed it back where it belongs, on Luffy's head, which Coby couldn't help but find strange considering the situation. That's when Luffy said something that got the green haired man's smile to fall away, "Hey Zoro, isn't that Kuina's sword? She let you have it or something?"

The swordsman was silent at that for several moments, before saying, "I'll tell you about it later Luffy."

That was good enough for the straw hat teen, as his smile only brightened as he chirped, "Alright then."

Just then, the three teens eyes were pulled to the marine base as Morgan and some of the men that had been on the rooftop came stumbling out into the yard, most of them collapsing onto the ground, unconscious as they did. Leaving the marine captain as the only one standing, looking relatively unharmed, but extremely pissed. "You! I'll kill you! ALL OF YOU! No one defies Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan, NO ONE! YOU WILL ALL BE EXECUTED!"

"Ahem, sorry to interrupt, but my flashy self has some important business with the captain of this base." All eyes quickly went to who said this, to see someone who looked like a clown, smiling evilly, though cockiness was present in it as well.

Morgan didn't play games, and with how angry he was, it was only expected for him to raise his axe as he yelled, "Who the hell are you!? You wanna die too!?"

The clown pirate's grin only widened at those words, "You don't know who I am? Allow me to introduce myself then, I am Buggy the Clown, captain of the infamous Buggy Pirates and the flashiest person on the seas. And as for what I want, that would be your head Morgan."

The marine captain took a step forward then, his nostrils flaring as he screamed, "YOU WHAT!? YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH CLOWN!?"

Buggy didn't look the slightest bit intimidated, his evil smile still present, "You see, I'm getting ready to head to the Grand Line, however on my way there I happened by this little town of yours. And knowing of your reputation, I decided that I would take your head, so as to increase my own reputation. After all, it wouldn't do for anyone, no matter who it is, to not know the name of the great clown pirate Buggy. I mean, I am going to conquer the entire Grand Line after all!" With that he began to laugh hysterically, and somewhat maniacally.

A frown crossed Luffy's face at that, before he could object to the clown's claims however, Zoro put a hand on his shoulder, getting him to look behind him at the swordsman, where he shook his head, letting his younger friend know not to do what he was about to do, and while he wasn't happy about it, he listened to his brother and kept quiet...for now at least.

Morgan quickly began closing the distance between him and this pirate who had just shown up out of nowhere, his axe raised as he yelled, "SHUT UP AND DIE!"

He brought his axe down and cut through the clown, cutting him in half straight down the middle, the two halves falling to opposite sides, ending the fight before it could even begin.

Coby screamed at the top of his lungs as this happened.

Zoro seemed a little disappointed as he said, "Well, that ended quickly."

As Morgan turned to face the other three once more, Luffy said, "But there isn't any blood..." Not sounding so sure the battle was over.

Now Morgan may have been furious, however he could clearly understand that brat's point, so turned around, just in time to defend himself, blocking a strike from each of the two halves of Buggy, who were both standing, several daggers spread out between the middle of his fingers, using them like claws.

Seeing this caused Coby to scream once more.

Zoro's eyes widened somewhat, before he realized, "Oh, the guy must be a Devil Fruit user." His eyes returning to their normal state as he was no longer surprised in the slightest.

Morgan's teeth were grit as he spoke, "Another Devil Fruit user huh? No matter, I'll kill you too, regardless of whatever ability you might have!"

Both halves of Buggy smiled nastily, "You can try, but I ate the Chop Chop Fruit, so I can't ever be hurt by any type of blade, I'm a Chop Chop Man, or Splitting Man if you prefer."

Morgan growled at his words, before forcing the halves of Buggy back, them backing up a few feet, not stumbling though, and joining together, to make the man whole once more. No sooner had he become whole then did Morgan try for another swing of his axe, cleaving his head off this time. But just as before he was relatively unharmed, as his head fell to the side, but stopped mid air and began to levitate, rising a few feet, where he chuckled, before reattaching his head to his body. Not giving up on chopping this bastard up, Morgan tried for another axe slice, cutting him in half horizontally this time rather than vertically, separating his upper half from his lower half. Unfortunately for him, they once again rejoined, making the clown pirate whole, as he began to laugh once more. "You fool, don't you get it? Someone who uses any kind of cutting, cleaving, or just all around sharp weapon, is utterly useless against me!"

That's when the sound of a cannon shot rang through the air, only moments later a big red cannon ball passed over the four's heads, going straight for the Marine base. Once it collided with it, the building was engulfed in a large explosion, several large sized parts of the building sent flying, as smoke filled the area. After a few seconds, the building could be seen, as the smoke close to the ground drifted and faded, revealing the building to be nothing but a pile of rubble, the bodies of dozens of marines among said rubble.

Luffy and Zoro both remained passive at this, though their stances changed a little, while tears began to gather in Coby's eyes, the young teen running to the rubble to try and help them, even though he knew it was impossible for any of them to be alive. He couldn't help but think to himself, "All these people...just killed, gone in an instant."

Morgan grew even angrier, though only because that had been his base.

Buggy began to laugh manically and hysterically once more, doing so for several long moments, before proclaiming, "With the power of my Buggy Balls and my Devil Fruit ability, I'll have no problem conquering the Grand Line!"

This time Zoro didn't try to stop his brother, as he called out, "HEY, BIG NOSE!"

Buggy was filled with rage at those words, it showing in his eyes as they landed on the one who had called to him, a scrawny straw hat wearing teenager, "The hell did you just say to me!?" He screamed.

"I'm the one who's gonna conquer the Grand Line! And then, I'll become the Pirate King!" Luffy proclaimed with the utmost certainty.

"You dare claim such a thing!?" Buggy yelled, his anger rising even further at this point. "Die you insolent little punk! Chop Chop Cannon!" With that his right hand, daggers still in between his fingers, as well as his forearm, disconnected from his body and shot forward towards Luffy.

Luffy's eyes widened slightly as the half an arm came at him, but had enough sense and speed to dodge to the side before it hit him. He turned so his eyes could follow the hand, wondering what would happen to it, only to find it quickly coming back towards him, dodging to the side once more to avoid it as it did. As it turned and came back once more, Buggy and Luffy, the former having his back to her, and the latter focusing on the hand, which was also in the opposite direction of her, failed to notice as Nami snuck onto the scene, silently and quickly approaching the clown pirate from behind as she did. Coby also didn't notice her of course, as he was in the wreckage of the building trying to find survivors of the explosion.

Zoro and Morgan on the other hand did notice her.

"Nami? The hell are you doing here?" Zoro asked with a quirked brow.

"Now who the hell is this!?" Morgan shouted.

That of course got both Luffy's and Buggy's attention, the two turning to face the orange haired girl, who froze in place, her hand only inches from the map tucked in the clown pirate's sash, her eyes wide as she realized she was in trouble.

Buggy did not look pleased with the young sixteen year old, his eyes showing he planned to kill her quite clearly, as he hissed, "And just what do you think you're doing girly!?" The staff she had stashed on her person was pretty sturdy, it could hold up to certain blades even, she had made sure of that as she had paid good money for it, but with his Devil Fruit ability, he would kill her easily, and she knew it. Chuckling nervously, she looked ready to book it out of there everything considered.

As the straw hat teen finally caught the arm coming at him, he spoke up, a large smile on his face as he did, "Nami? You're here too? That's great! I'm so glad to see you! I've really missed you ya know!" As he finished speaking, he threw the disembodied half arm down, before proceeding to stomp on it, causing the big red nosed pirate to yelp in pain, his attention returning to his target as he did so. "Damn you, you little bastard! You'll pay for that!"

Morgan then came charging towards Nami and Buggy, his axe raised as he shouted, "What do you all think you're doing!? Desecrating my base!? Ignoring me as if I pose no threat!? Going against my authority!? YOU WILL ALL DIE FOR THIS!"

Before he could make it to them though, Luffy rushed over and intercepted him with strong right, knocking him flat out on the ground, some blood flying out of his mouth from the impact. "Would you just shut up about killing everyone already!? You're getting on my nerves!"

That's when everyone's attention was once more diverted, this time to the rubble, as some of it rose up with the dozen people that rose with it, before falling back down to the ground. There, having just stood up from the wreckage of the building, were the twelve prisoners who had been brought here. They were dressed in black and white striped clothes, were covered in soot, and some were bleeding, but none of them looked any worse for ware, and had obviously survived the explosion considering their state.

Coby was right next to them, so when one of them cried, "We're free, let's get out of here boys!" he was directly in the path of them, and was trampled by them as they rushed past him, actually going over him, having stamped him into the rubble, him crying out in pain as they did.

They then passed by Buggy and Nami, the former moving out of the way, the latter trying to but not getting far enough, as a few of them slammed into her and sent her tumbling to the ground, though thankfully not stepping on her. Since this was the case however, Luffy's eyes narrowed and he rushed towards them, coming to a quick stop in front of them, effectively cutting them off in their escape. "You guys think you can just trample all over my friends and get away with it!?"

He brought his arms back then, stretching them a few feet, before shooting them forward together, palms open, slamming them into some of the prisoners, knocking them into other prisoners, and knocking them all right back into the rubble, all of them grunting and or yelping in pain as this happened. "Gum Gum Bazooka!"

Seeing this, Buggy looked ready to strangle someone, "This punk has a Devil Fruit ability too!?"

All of the prisoners were groaning in a heap, slowly getting to their feet only moments later, all looking ready to kill the one who had just stopped their escape. As they did, Buggy began to laugh once more, speaking afterwards. "Looks like you're just pissing people off left and right kid, too bad for you."

He then looked towards the prisoners, "You want back at this scrawny bastard!? By all means, feel free to join in the slaughter I'm about to commence!"

The clown looked back towards the rubberman then, "My crew is guarding the docks, and they have more than a dozen Buggy Balls to spare, so you've no hope of escape. You'll just have to face your death like a man, you brat!"

As he finished stating this, Luffy glanced towards Zoro, their eyes making contact for only a moment, before the older of the two nodded his head, understanding the silent order right away. "You got it Captain." With that he ran past everyone, out of the crucifixion yard, and towards the docks

Bringing his disembodied half arm back to him, it reattached itself, before he pointed both hands at the dark haired sixteen year old. With his nasty smirk returning, Buggy cried, "Chop Chop Double Cannon!" His two hands, his forearms coming with them, then shot forward at Luffy, even faster than the single one had last time, forcing the straw hat pirate to leap backwards to avoid them, going right over the wall as he did so.

Buggy quickly followed behind, running after the scrawny teen, the prisoners reaching down and grabbing hold of blades some of the marines had been carrying when they collapsed outside, before letting out battle cries and following after the clown pirate to kill that bastard with the red vest.

This of course only left Nami and Coby, both on the ground at this point, but both getting to their feet.

Once Nami was back on her feet, she dusted her skirt off with her free hand, before letting out a heavy sigh. "Dang it, they saw me, and even worse I didn't even get my hands on that damn map!" She stamped her foot in frustration as she said this.

As she did this, she failed to notice Morgan rising to his feet, his eyes still filled with fury, and his axe hand itching to be swung. However she did hear it when he raised said axe hand, and turning around to face him, she gasped and jumped back, barely managing to avoid the sharp thing as it came down, hitting the ground where she had just been a moment ago.

She skid to a stop several feet from where she had jumped back from, her eyes locked on the man that had just tried to kill her, as she prepared to defend herself, thinking to herself as she did, "Crap, what have I gotten myself into now?"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	13. The Shells Town Incident Part 3

F-ckthesystem125: I'm happy my humor isn't falling flat, that would really suck. So glad you found the chapter funny, and that you enjoyed it. Finally, I'll do my best to keep it up! :)

Avatar Eddy: No need for any further waiting, the next chapter is here! XP

Stabboy: Thank you! And the fact that one of my chapters could actually make you happy, like sincerely smiling and everything, you've no idea how much that means to me. I'm so very happy I could brighten up your day! :)

Tonlor: Thanks. You'll see, you will see, believe me. Now here's the next update.

ArturiusRex8: Oh, I see. I knew that she showed up in those arcs in the anime, I however didn't know she didn't make those appearances in the manga, interesting. Oh, well I'm glad you're enjoying it then. :)

One last thing before this chapter begins, this chapter contains the first real fight scenes of this story, discounting the skirmish between Bellemere and Bluejam of course, so I'd appreciate as much feedback on them as possible. This is for two reasons, the first, because while I've written fight scenes before, and they're a major part of every story I do, I've never written a fight with a Devil Fruit before, Luffy's especially. And secondly, I struggle with sword fights, so I'd like to know how I did, considering I never feel like they come out right when I wright them. So it's very imperative that you guys tell me how I did, what you liked, what you didn't like, how I might improve, and etc.

That's all, now on to the next chapter, which is the longest one so far. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Coby, his forehead bloody from being cut open, from being forced into a few sharp pieces of rubble by some of the prisoners stepping on the back of his head, the lens of his glasses all but gone, only a few shards of them left in the frames, bruises spread about several parts of his body in the shape of footprints, was halfway to his feet. He clung desperately to the hope that if he continued to dig through the wreckage of the base, that he would find and be able to help at least one person to live through this ordeal, so all he needed to do was stand up and continue rummaging through the rubble. Since this is what he managed to force himself to believe, he did indeed make it back to his feet, stumbling as he did so, having to catch himself to stay up. Once he was stable though, he began to clear hunks of what was left of the building, searching for anyone who might have survived the explosion.

He heard noise coming from behind him, but it was muffled by his thoughts and the noise of him moving all this rubble, though it was a slow process since he wasn't nearly strong enough to search several pieces at a time. Nevertheless, soon enough, though he wasn't sure how long he had been at it by the time he found them, he managed to come across someone who was actually breathing. Which was such a welcome sight, as he had found several bodies during his digging and they only caused his hope to dim. And despite the fact that he was covered in soot, the top of his head was bleeding, it trailing down the sides of his face, and he was breathing very raggedly, he was indeed quite alive. The fact that it was Helmeppo he had found didn't sour the joy the pink haired boy felt at the fact that he had found someone who was still alive.

Before he could try and help the older blonde boy, his eyes opened, and though he couldn't see clearly at that moment, he lashed out with the sloppiest punch anyone had ever thrown, it missing the younger teen, but causing him to fall backwards onto his butt as he flinched, a little scared of the threat of physical violence. And as the now broken glasses of his fell off his face, and the purple suited teen began pulling himself to his feet, the wannabe marine asked the obvious question, "Why'd you try to hit me?"

It took him a few moments to do so, but Helmeppo did get to his feet, almost falling back down as he did. Once he steadied himself, he took a moment to look all around him, at the wreckage that once was the Marine base, all the dead marines that lie in it, and at the scene of his father fighting some orange haired girl, before his eyes fell back onto Coby. His breathing was labored, he was bleeding, and definitely needed medical attention, and yet, the blonde, in spite of all the fear that was in his eyes, looked ready to kill someone. "You...you and your stupid friends did this! You've ruined everything!"

As he tried to kick the now struggling to see boy, he managed to scrambled back out of the way and get to his feet, saying this as he did so, "I'm trying to help you!"

"Help me? Help me!? Because of you and your crazy stupid friends, things can't go back to how they were before, nothing will ever be the same again! You have ruined my life!" He then finally landed a hit on the younger teen, a wimpy right to the face, though it didn't feel like that to Coby, he had felt a lot worse though, so managed to stay on his feet after receiving the fist to the face.

Blood now leaking from the left side of his mouth, the pink haired boy grit his teeth, his anger showing as he retaliated by tackling Helmeppo to the ground, the two landing on some of the rubble. The struggling to see without his glasses boy spoke through gritted teeth as he sat atop of the older teen's abdomen, "Ruined your life!? What about all the lives you and your father ruined!? All the people you've wrongfully executed!? Their families!? What about them huh!?"

Coby began to flail his fists, as they weren't exactly punches, nevertheless though every single one made contact with the blondes face, breaking his nose with one in particular, as he began to shout, "Don't you even care!? So many good men lost their lives today! And for what!? And all you can think about is how you can't enjoy your ridiculous life style anymore!? You and your father have sullied the reputation of the Marines, killed who knows how many innocent people, and that's all you can think about!? What kind of monster are you!?"

After receiving a little over a dozen 'punches' to the face, Helmeppo was able to force the smaller teen off of him, doing so by kneeing him in his stomach, and rolling over so he was on top, where he began to hit him just as he had done to him moments ago. "Shut up! You don't know anything! Daddy says titles are all that matter, and since he's the captain, then he's superior to us all! That means he can do whatever he wants, as he's always right and never wrong, and so can I, cause I'm his son! And I have to start living up to daddy's expectations, otherwise I'll be the next one to be executed! So I'll do what he would want me to, and kill you myself!" With that, he stopped 'punching' the younger teen, and wrapped his hands around his throat, and began to choke him out, tears beginning to fall from both of their faces as this happened. The younger one because of how screwed up the situation was, to him at least, and the older one because this life was all he had ever known, and at that point his worst fear was his father lopping his head off like all the rest. which would make his entire life worthless and pointless.

The pink haired boy struggled to breathe as he was choked, his hands grabbing onto his attackers forearms as he squeezed down on them as hard as he could, and tried to pull them back towards the blonde, away from him. This struggle lasted for a little over a dozen moments, before the young teen took a page from his new friend's book and threw caution to the wind, deciding to do anything he needed to so as to survive and achieve his dream, and threw his head forward, slamming it into the older teen's head, busting it open and causing him to fall back onto the rubble, off of his opponent, all because of a simple headbutt.

Coby quickly got to his feet, careful not to fall back down as he did, his breathing labored as he had been forcibly deprive of oxygen. After catching his breath, he proceeded to speak, "Haven't you ever thought that he might be wrong!? That he's just on a power trip, and that you're being taken along for the ride!? Titles and power aren't what the Marines stand for! The Marines stand for justice!" With that the pink haired teen quickly ran towards his opponent, drawing his right arm back for his version of a punch.

Helmeppo, who was on his feet at this point, began to run towards his enemy in turn, his right arm also cocked back, as he was going to throw a punch of his own as well. "What do you know!?"

With that the two met in the middle of the wreckage of the former Marine base, both shooting their arms forward, ramming their fists into each other's faces as hard as they possibly could, both actually throwing a close to half decent punch this time, a bit of blood flying out of their mouths from the impacts of the blows. As a result both ended flat out on their backs, not three feet across from each other, breathing raggedly, neither looking capable of standing back up as all the damage that had been inflicted on their brittle bodies today finally caught up to them.

**Coby vs Helmeppo**

**Draw.**

* * *

Nami stood across from Morgan, jumping back having put several feet of distance between her and the extremely pissed marine captain. Said man's anger directed solely towards her at this point, he shouted, "When I said that you would all be executed, I MEANT IT! AND YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO DIE GIRL!"

With that he charged forward towards her, bringing his axe hand overhead, before bringing it down once more once he was close enough to make contact with it. The orange haired teen dodged to the side just before the sharp weapon could touch her skin, but was quickly forced to jump back once more, as Morgan lifted his makeshift hand only a few inches off the ground, before turning sharply to his left, swinging his axe towards her, almost managing to catch her shirt with it as she avoided it.

He then quickly took a step forward and swiped at her with the axe again, the young lady taking two quick steps back to avoid it hitting her. Morgan simply took another step forward, before bringing his axe hand overhead once more, grabbing hold of the blunt side of his axe hand with his left hand, and bringing it for a downward strike, adding extra force to it with his left hand forcing it downwards as well. The teenage girl jumped back once more so as to avoid the lethal attack, beginning to skid to a stop once her feet hit the ground.

The marine captain used this to his advantage, doing so by charging forward before she had come to a complete stop, closing in on her as he brought his left arm back, shooting it forward to hit her with only a moment later. Her eyes widened slightly as his fist came towards her, but there wasn't anything she could do to avoid the blow, so braced herself for the impact. As the attack made contact with her face, she closed her eyes and let out a grunt of pain, her body knocked back a few feet as she did. The teen landed on her back in the dirt, sliding about a foot before coming to a stop.

It hadn't hurt as much as she thought it would, though it did still hurt. Whether it would leave a bruise or not was an entirely different matter. As she climbed to her feet, she noticed that hitting her had calmed the captain down somewhat, as he had stopped attacking, now standing where he had punched her at. Once more on her feet, the sixteen year old gritted her teeth in frustration, worry beginning to worm it's way into her mind, as despite the fact that even she could tell that this guy was weaker than Buggy, she wasn't so sure about fighting him. This was because she was in no way a fighter, at least not in the physical sense. While she had been dragged into battle on more than one occasion, she had only ever fought pirate grunts, never captains or anything above the average lackey. And though she could handle herself extremely well, she had only learned to defend herself and the people she loved, not how to actually defeat tough opponents. Since that was the case, she was worried she wouldn't be able to cut it in a fight such as this. It would be in her best interest to slip away and avoid such a battle...

With his ego feeling a little better now that he had hit someone, the muscle head with an axe for a hand threw his navy coat off and roared out, though not as loud as he been screaming before, "I am Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan! The man that brought down Thousand Plan Kuro! Insignificant pieces of trash such as yourself, with no title or status, have absolutely no right to oppose me! I am superior to all on this island! And therefor, you little girly, will die at my hand!" Taking his battle stance, showing he was finally ready to use all of his might, Morgan then stated, "Time for your execution!"

With those words of his, the orange haired girl's frustration and worry fell away, as she was instead filled with anger and annoyance towards this man. In the span of ten seconds, he had managed to tarnish the title of marine captain, which her mother had once held, and remind her of not only Bluejam, but those damned nobles from Goa as well. In doing so, he had changed her objective from slipping away from the fight, to beating the crap out of the older man.

Since that was the case, she made a daring move, doing so by slipping out of her defensive stance and walking straight up to the taller and larger man, pulling out the parts of her staff, before fancily assembling them into the weapon she had used for several years now, stopping with only a foot of distance between him and her. She then looked up at him, her eyes shining with defiance as she spoke, her voice cold as she did, "You wanna kill me so badly!? Execute me then! If you can."

His previous level of rage returned at that taunt, raising his axe overhead once again, and bringing it down, yelling as he did so. "GLADLY BITCH!"

Nami quickly raised her own weapon in return, holding the bo staff up horizontally so as to defend herself from the axe strike, each of her hands close to the ends of the wooden weapon so as to keep them out of harms way as well. As the staff absorbed the impact of the sharp weapon, it almost forced the orange haired girl back, her feet digging in and sliding back an inch or so, however she wasn't pushed any farther back and kept the cleaving weapon from her making contact with her person, which was what mattered. The resilience of her wooden weapon surprised the marine captain, as his axe was sharp enough to render people's heads from their shoulders. This moment of surprise was exactly what the sixteen year old needed, quickly taking advantage of it, she kicked him as hard as she could in the gut, the heel making it more painful.

Having been caught off guard by the kick, the whitish blonde haired man stumbled back a few steps, his female opponent capitalizing on that by ramming the end of her staff into his abdomen, causing him to grunt in pain. The teen then followed up by slamming her weapon into his abdomen once more, this time doing so with the staff horizontal. She took the attack even further, doing so by pushing the wooden staff into him with all her strength, shoving all of her body weight into her weapon, and in turn her weapon into him, causing him to take a step back. This time the big guy being forced to, and not doing so because he had been taken by surprise. The fact that this small girl, at least in comparison to him, could do such a thing, only fueled the fire of his anger.

Morgan brought his axe up, though not over his head this time, and brought it down fast, his opponent only noticing two or three moments before it could reach her. She of course took three quick steps back to avoid the attack, but only just managed to escape being sliced by the sharp weapon. Not waiting for him to make the next move, she smacked him across the face with her staff, it of course did minimal physical damage, but it did do critical ego damage. Snarling at her, he drew his axe hand back, before swinging towards her once more, taking a step forward as he did. This time he was going for her legs, seeing this, she jumped over the swing, her feet merely an inch above the cutting weapon as it passed below her. It had been so close in fact, that the teen was glad she hadn't opted for longer heels, as it would have been bad for her if she had worn them.

She didn't stay in the air for more than a moment or so, as just after the sharp object had passed by, her feet were making contact with the ground once more. She didn't get the chance to attack though, as before she could, the axe was coming back at her in another swing. As it was aimed for her neck this time, and it was too close for her to jump back, quick step, or dodge to the side, she leaned backwards so as to avoid being beheaded. The axe passed right by her eyes, taking a few strands of her hair with it, proving that she couldn't have cut it any closer if she had tried.

There wasn't even a second of reprieve for the orange haired sixteen year old, as the furious marine captain brought his axe up and down towards her once again, she had to scramble to her right, as she had just gotten back into an erect position, to avoid this lethal attack. Having to do so a second time, as she had turned to face him, he had made a sharp left turn, bringing his axe for a horizontal arc slash.

Now standing on his left side, but ready to defend herself, she spoke, taunting him into action, "Is that the best you got!? If you're supposed to be some big bad marine, why can't you manage kill one teenage girl!?"

Letting out a cry of rage, he whirled to face her, brought his axe hand as high up as he could, before proceeding to bring it down as hard and as fast as he possibly could. His female opponent in turn raised her bo staff once more, using it to defend herself again. This time however, when the cleaving hand hit it, it visibly and audibly cracked from the force of the blow. Nami's eyes widened considerably as this happened, as if it broke, it would mean her death. Morgan too realized that without that ridiculously sturdy weapon of hers, it would be considerably easier to kill her. Since that was the case, he brought his axe hand up above his head once more, placing his left hand on the blunt end of it, and brought it down with all his might, using his left hand to increase the force of the attack once more. And as the staff was forced to absorb the impact of Morgan's weapon hand for the third time, it cracked even further, the size of said crack doubling, almost tripling in fact, as the sound of it splintering and breaking increased considerably in volume.

The orange haired teenager knew just how much trouble she was in, and this of course meant she needed to end this fight as fast as she possibly could. So, as he brought his axe up once more, she shot her right knee up, and rammed it as hard as she could into the larger man's crotch. He of course yelped in pain as this happened, nearly doubling over in pain from the attack on his genitals. And while he didn't double over, he wished he would have, as it would have prevented the girl from bringing her right foot back, and shooting it forward, slamming it into his pelvis as well, since her knee strike hadn't done the job. This time he fell to his knees from the trauma of being kicked in the balls, yelping in pain once more, and the sixteen year old took advantage of that. She did so by bringing her staff back as far as she could, before swinging it forward and slamming it into the muscle head's face as hard as she possibly could, using it like a bat.

Morgan was knocked onto his back from this blow, the impact of it jarring him, his vision blurring a bit, as his head spun. He was still conscious though, and he couldn't be, not if this fight was to end. So the teen came to his side, brought her staff overhead, and brought it down again, slamming it into his face once more with all her strength, and thankfully, this time he lost consciousness from the blow.

From there she let out a sigh of relief, before turning to face the way Buggy had ran off in. "Now I just gotta get my hands on that map, and get out of here."

**Nami vs Morgan**

**Winner: Nami**

* * *

Zoro, on Luffy's order, silent order though it may be it was still an order, was on his way towards the docks. The only problem with that, was the fact that, as Nami had once said, 'Zoro could get lost following a straight line.' Which left him at a disadvantage when it came to fulfilling his duty to his captain and carrying out his orders, as while he was heading for the dock, he instead ended up in some kind of back alley that he had never even seen before. So turning around, he began to head in the direction he was sure the dock was in, only to end up at Rika and her mother's restaurant. Though that might have been a stroke of luck, as he was sure to be lost for at least another five minutes, but as the little girl he had saved noticed him out front, she ran out to greet him, a big smile on her face. "Hi there Zoro!"

"Hey Rika." It was obvious he wasn't paying more than a sliver of attention to the little girl, as he was looking all about, scanning the area for which path might lead him to the docks.

"I'm so glad Luffy and Coby were able to get you away from the base safely."

"Yeah, me too."

Rika's eyes followed the green haired man's as he searched about for a few moments after that, before she asked, "What are you looking for?"

"I'm heading to the docks. There's some guys I've got to deal with. Now I know, it's this way." He pointed in the direction of the Marine base, or where it once was at least, as he said this, beginning to take a step forward as he did.

Before he could break into a jog or even take another step, Rika reached out and grabbed ahold of his right hand, and began pulling him in the opposite direction. "No silly, it's this way. Here, I'll show you." She was giggling as she said this.

Zoro, who would never admit he was lost aloud, decided to follow the girl, not only because he didn't know where he was going, nor because she had made him food out of the kindness of her heart, but also because the sooner he dealt with that clown's crew, the sooner he and Luffy could stuff themselves silly. And right about now, his stomach left like it would soon begin eating itself, so there really wasn't any arguing with it.

* * *

It didn't take long at all to reach the dock with Rika guiding the way, the little girl receiving a pat on the head and thanks for bringing the swordsman here. After giving his thanks, the green haired man sent her on her way, back to her mother's restaurant, as this was no place for a child. Since they were in an alleyway, they hadn't been seen, though they could see the pirates, so she was able to go back the way they had come with no problems.

With her safely out of the way, the three sword carrying man came out from the alleyway he was hidden in, and began to casually stroll towards the dozens of Buggy Pirates that covered the docks. Most of them looked the same to the swordsman, the only difference between most of them being their skin color, as they had similar clothes, and almost all o them carried swords, cutlasses being the popular one judging by how many carried said type of sword. There were two of them however, that did stand out. One was sitting on top of a large lion, while the other sat atop a unicycle.

They all stood about, somewhat evil smirks across all of their faces, as they, from what he could hear, debated over whether to use the cannon they had at their disposal again or not, the Buggy Balls that were to be loaded into said cannon less than six feet away in some kind of portable steel rack.

As he drew closer, all eyes came to him, the expressions on their faces obviously showing what they were thinking, 'Who in their right mind would come to face us?' Man did he ever have a surprise for them.

With their attention on him, Zoro came to a stop with about ten feet of distance between him and them. "You guys must be the Buggy Pirates."

Cocky smirks crossed their faces at that, the one on top of the lion speaking for them, "Our reputation proceeds us then."

The green haired eighteen year old let a small smirk of his own appear, this one of amusement as he said, "Nah, not really. That lame ass jolly roger on that ship of yours let me know who you guys are."

Scowls replaced all of their smirks, as they became angered and annoyed at those words, well that was the case for all of them but one.

The guy who rode a unicycle came a few feet forward, his smirk still present as he explained who was before them all, "This guy, look at him, three swords, green hair, black bandanna, he's obviously Roronoa Zoro the Pirate Hunter." The smirk on his face turned into a nasty sneer as he continued speaking, "But you can also see he looks half dead. So what happened Zoro? Your filthy, I can almost see your bones, you look like you haven't eaten in weeks in fact. Do you really think you could take our captain's head in such a pathetic state as this?"

The three sword style swordsman's small grin grew a bit, going from amusement to confidence, as he replied, "I'm not here for your captain's head, I'm here on orders. My captain is already beating the crap out of your captain, so there's no need for me to fight him, so he sent me your way."

All of their eyes widened somewhat at those words, the two different shades of green haired man asking the question they were all thinking to themselves, "Your captain? You mean-"

His grin growing into a somewhat proud smile, the swordsman confirmed it for them. "Yeah, I'm a pirate now. I am the first mate of the future Pirate King, and damn proud of it. And knowing my captain as well as I do, he sent me here for two reasons. The first is to make sure you don't fire another one of those damn super cannon balls of yours, and the second is to take you guys down so we can leave when we please. Since that's the case, it'd be in your best interest to give up now, as you're right, I'm starving, and am in no mood to play games. And the sooner I beat all of you, the sooner I can eat." As he told them all of this, he drew one of his swords.

All the members of Buggy's crew were silent for a few moments as they registered and digested everything that had been said, before all bursting into a big fit of laughter, hell, even the lion was laughing.

"Pirate King? What kind of joker did you join up with!?" One pirate asked incredulously, before continuing to laugh hysterically.

"No one can beat the great Captain Buggy you moron! Your idiotic captain's probably dead already!" Another pirate claimed.

"You, beat all of us? How stupid are you!? It's fifty to one!" A third pirate stated through his laughter.

Despite being made fun of and laughed at, the green haired man didn't look the slightest bit agitated.

That's when the lion stepped forward, to where it stood just a foot or so to the left of the guy on the unicycle, and the man on top of it spoke, "You've no idea what you've just walked into Roronoa. Maybe, and this is a big maybe, you'd be strong enough to take Cabaji or me and Richie on separately, however, not only are we together, but we've also got the entirety of our crew, minus Captain Buggy of course, backing us up. There are fifty of us, and only one of you, there's no way you can win."

Zoro quirked an eyebrow as he got a good look at the man atop the lion that was apparently named Richie, "That some kind of fashion statement?" He pointed his only drawn sword to man's head as he asked this.

The effect was immediate, his nostrils flaring, the man angrily yelled back, "This is my hair!"

The swordsman shook his head at that answer, "Weirdo."

The increase in the guy's anger evident, the lion roared and leapt forward, landing only three feet from the eighteen year old who was bad talking his master. "I am Mohji The Beast Tamer, the first mate of the Buggy Pirates! And I'm not weird!" The lion roared in agreement. "And this is Richie!" He patted the side of the animal's neck as he introduced him.

The unicycle guy rolled up beside the lion as he too introduced himself, "You may call me Acrobat Cabaji, and I am the one who is first mate of the Buggy Pirates."

Mohji turned and glared at the unicycling swordsman for saying this, "No, I'm the first mate!"

Cabaji scoffed at that, "As if. Why would the third strongest be made first mate? Second strongest is always the first mate, therefor, that means I fill the position nicely."

His teeth grit, the white haired man growled at his fellow crewman, "What'd you just say!?"

A full of himself smirk crossed the two different shades of green haired man's face at that, "I'm saying I'm stronger than you, I thought I made that clear."

"Why you! I-" Mohji was cut off, as Zoro spoke up once more, "Look, I don't care which one of you is stronger, just hurry up and fight me! My stomach is fricking eating itself here! Unless you intend to give up, then bring it on!"

All eyes now on the three sword style swordsman once more, Cabaji addressed him, rather than continuing to argue with Mohji. "Do you really think taking us on is a good idea? Don't get me wrong, it'd be honor to face you, and as a swordsman myself, I'd relish the chance to slay you. But honestly, look at yourself, you're a mess. You've no hope in defeating all of us."

Zoro let a scowl cross his face then, "Didn't I just say that if you aren't going to surrender, then to hurry up and face me? Shut your traps and bring it on already."

Cabaji let a cocky and nasty smirk cross his face then, "Fine, have it your way, have at'em boys!"

With that a little over a dozen Buggy Pirates began charging towards the green haired swordsman. Even as they drew closer though, he made no moves to draw another sword, in spite of the fact that he was known for his three sword style. Once the men were close enough, they all swung their swords forward towards him, but he caught them all with the blade of his only drawn katana almost effortlessly. Before they could pull their swords back, Zoro pushed them back, all of them stumbling back a few feet. Though it didn't matter, they might as well have fell down and knocked themselves unconscious, it would have been less painful that way, as the eighteen year old performed only one slash for each of them, not even bothering to move forward as he did so, and they all went down, big slash marks across them that began to bleed. Thankfully for them they weren't deep at all, which meant they would live, they of course didn't know that though.

This didn't seem to perturb any of them, as several more pirates came at him, who got put down even faster than the last ones, the young swordsman once again only using one swing of the blade for each body that came his way.

Seeing just how weak the grunts were, Zoro began to make his way towards the two who had been arguing over who the first mate of their crew was, as they had moved several feet back as some of their men came at him. As he walked towards them, a couple more idiots who didn't seem to realize how outclassed they were came running towards him, each of which he dispatched with ease. Though at the same time Mohji had decided to join the fight, this fact being evident as the lion he rid atop of, Richie, was now barreling towards the black bandanna wearing teen.

Seeing the animal dashing towards him, Roronoa moved a little faster, and when they would have collided, he sank to the floor and landed a solid slash across the beast's underbelly, which did begin to bleed, but as it skidded to a stop and turned around to face it's 'prey' once more, it became obvious it wasn't too serious of an injury.

"Tch, not deep enough." The green haired swordsman grunted, as he stood and turned to face the lion and it's rider. He had intended to put it down for the count, but it's underbelly was made of tougher stuff than he had thought it'd be.

He didn't get to see the lion's or it's master's reaction to his successful attack, as Cabaji rode up on him, got in his face, engage him in a blade clash with him, and used a special attack. "Acrobatic Technique: Fire Trick!" With that he began to blow flames from his mouth, which his opponent avoided, doing so by jumping back several feet, his eyes locked on the one who had just tried to fry him.

This left him vulnerable from behind, which the other Buggy Pirates didn't fail to take advantage of, doing so by bum rushing him with swords drawn. Just as they were going to land some sword strikes, he unexpectedly whirled around to face them, taking them all down with one quick swing since they were so close, effectively cutting their overall number down by five more.

He quickly sidestepped, having heard the unicycling swordsman coming from behind him, allowing him to avoid the sword attack he had been trying for, which from the position of his blade, could have been a potentially fatal chest strike. Missing didn't discourage the other green haired man in the slightest, as he pulled a sharp right to face the only other person in the area with green hair, before planting the tip of his blade into the cement of the ground, as they were right beside the docks but not actually on them, pulling the sword up just a fraction of an inch after that, and beginning to spin it round and round in circles, each time around it being spun faster than the last. "Acrobat Technique: Murder At The Steambath!" This move of his kicked up a lot of gray dust, blocking the one sword style swordsman from view. "You can't slice what you can't see!"

Zoro just charged into the dust, his enemy pulling out of it as he did, making the three sword style swordsman blind to all of his enemies locations. Thinking this gave them the advantage, a handful of the Buggy Pirates charged in, weapons drawn and ready to be used as soon as they entered the dust cloud. However, as everyone found out only a few moments later, this didn't help them in the slightest, as when the dust settled, the young swordsman stood completely unharmed, the pirates that had come in after him weren't so fortunate though, as they lie on the ground unconscious and bleeding.

The remaining thirteen Buggy Pirates, ten if you excluded Mohji, Richie and Cabaji, were all wide eyed at this point, completely disbelieving of how this fight was going. This man they had engaged was in the middle of starving to death, and still looked like shit all around discounting that, and yet, they hadn't managed to land a single hit on him, while he had taken thirty seven of them out, without so much as drawing his second sword. It was aggravating, infuriating, discouraging and somewhat horrifying all at the same time to the remaining men. Of all these things, it was the anger they all chose to focus on however.

"Time to die Zoro!" Mohji's yell drew the green haired man's attention to him, as Richie pounced towards the swordsman, aiming to squash him under his weight.

He ran to the right, getting out of the way of the impact zone about a second or so before the big lion body slammed the ground where he had just been standing, shaking the area slightly from the giant impact. He stopped about three feet from the no longer standing lion, but was quickly getting to it's feet, or paws, and prepared to attack the beast and it's master, before he could though Cabaji rode up on him once more, engaging him in another sword clash, with neither being able to move much from their position without the other cutting them up. That was the opportune moment for a surprise attack from the cycling swordsman, so he took advantage of that, "Arsonist Technique!" He once again began to spit flames, this time they actually hit their target though, pelting the only other true swordsman, if the unicycle riding trickster could be consider as such, in the face with the fire.

Zoro couldn't help but yelp in surprise and slight pain, mostly the former rather than the latter, as these flames didn't burn very hot at all. Nevertheless, they left him open to a follow up attack, which his opponent wasted no time in launching, stabbing at the bandanna man. His blade successfully made contact with flesh, piercing the left side of his enemy's lower abdomen, but before it could go all the way through, so as to come out on the other side, he jumped backwards, putting several feet of distance between him and the other swordsman, the blade of the weapon coming out of his flesh without causing any extra damage.

There weren't even any burn marks from that move, so those flames of his were indeed quite weak. Though that wasn't what concerned Roronoa, "You dirty bastard! Changing the name of your technique like that, just to score a hit, you've no pride, do you!?"

The only response he received for his question was a wide evil grin from the cycling swordsman.

The three sword style swordsman scoffed then, "Fine, have it your way." He drew his second sword after saying that. "It's time to end this anyway."

Two blades in hand, the green haired swordsman moved on the ten grunts that were left, and while they did their best to defend themselves, they all went down in mere moments, leaving only three left Buggy Pirates left.

"You know, I couldn't agree more, it is time to end this! Now, have a taste of my ultimate acrobatic move! Acrobat Technique: The Dance Of A Hundred Kamikaze Tops!" With that the one sword style swordsman threw his arms out to his sides, his coat billowing back as he did, and dozens upon dozens of spinning tops came soaring towards Roronoa.

As they closed in on him, Mohji and Richie came rushing in as well, intent on being the ones to defeat the great Pirate Hunter, the duo coming from the opposite direction as the hundred spinning tops. Zoro didn't seem worried, even as he was closed in on from the front and the back, though this didn't discourage his opponents.

What he planned to do was quickly revealed, as he crouched low, just before kicking off the ground, back flipping away from the spinning tops and towards the beast and the beast tamer. They spinning objects followed him but he managed to stay out of their reach, even beginning to cut them in half as they persisted. As he came overhead Mohji, he literally came face to face with him, and as he did so he brought both his blades across the tamer's chest in an X, blood spurting from the patterned cut only a moment later, the strange hairstyle having man letting out a shriek of pain as it did.

The swordsman then focused on Richie, dragging the blades of his weapons across the lower half of his back, before landing firmly on his feet behind him. From there he sliced the back of the beast's hind legs, cutting almost deep enough to sever tendons, causing the animal to cry out loudly in pain, as it collapsed onto the ground, brought down by the agony it was in. Not wasting even a moment, besides the one he used to cut up a couple more spinning tops that is, he stuck his blades into the lion's side, before beginning to drag them through his flesh as he ran beside him, carving into him until he reached his front legs, the animal roaring in anguish the whole time. He pulled his swords from Richie's body, then came to stand in front of his face, his head on the ground, before slamming the butts of his swords into the forehead of the huge cat, managing to knock him unconscious with the force of the double blow, all the pain he was in playing a big part in this coming about.

The green haired man then whirled around to finish slicing up the remaining spinning tops, doing so without allowing even one of them to hit him. As the last of the pieces that used to be Cabaji's ultimate technique hit the ground, a confident grin crossed the two sword wielding man, his eyes locked onto the only enemy left standing.

In spite of the fact that Richie lie unconscious on the ground, almost half of his body soaked in his own blood, his master Mohji also unconscious laid out atop of him, also bleeding from the X like mark across his chest, the unicycle swordsman was smirking triumphantly. He didn't keep to himself why though, "You missed one."

Zoro's eyes widened slightly at those words, before he could try and locate the one he had allegedly missed however, it rammed into the back of his head, exploding upon impact, and enclosing his head in a mini smoke cloud.

As Roronoa's vision was blocked, the cycling one sword style swordsman rode over to the closest building and up one of it's walls. "Acrobat Technique: A Hike In The Mountains!" He then leapt off at the top of the building, going flying through the air until he reached overhead of his only opponent, still riding his unicycle as he did. "Fireworks In The Cool Summer Breeze!" His enemy now directly below him, he gripped his blade tightly with both hands and pointed it directly downward, aiming for the other swordsman's head, planning on an insta-kill. "Sting Of The Unicycle!" He then came plummeting down towards the green haired man.

While he couldn't see, the eighteen year old swordsman knew his cowardly opponent would attack, so he placed one of his swords into his mouth, gripping down on it with his teeth, and drew his final blade, finally unsheathing all three swords.

Knowing he only had moments to dodge, the teenage swordsman listened closely to the cycling idiot's shouts, which allowed him to tell where he was with sound, and knowing his position, he jumped back a few feet, avoiding the killing blow the acrobatic swordsman had been aiming for, as the sword pierced the ground where he once stood. "I'm tired of watching your boring little sideshow! So I'm finishing this!"

This claim got Cabaji's complete and undivided attention, his eyes widening as his fellow green haired swordsman took a specific stance with his blades, before lunging forward and unleashing his own signature technique. "Oni Giri!"

With that three particular slash marks were carved into the unicyclist's abdomen, blood seeping from them as he fell off his unicycle and hit the pavement face first with a thump, unconscious, his ride falling over as well.

Now that the last pirate had been defeated, Zoro left his special stance, sheathed two of his blades, and walked over to the only cannon in sight. With the Wado in hand, he sliced the iron contraption in half, rendering it useless, and making it where no more Buggy Balls could be fired. He then sheathed his favorite sword as well, before falling back onto his back on to the ground. As he began to pant, his stomach roared as loud as the lion had before, since that was the case, in spite of not having any energy, he climbed to his feet.

Since he had carried out his captain's order, now all he had to do was go find him, and then they could stuff their faces. Which the exhausted swordsman needed to do badly, as the lack of something in his stomach was why he felt like slipping into unconsciousness at the moment. So he began making his way away from the docks, and hopefully towards Luffy, or some food, or better yet both.

**Zoro vs The Buggy Pirates**

**Winner: Zoro**

* * *

As Luffy landed outside of the crucifixion yard, several feet from the wall, he placed a hand on his straw hat, so as to make sure it didn't fall off. It remained there, as Buggy's disembodied half arms were still coming at him, the clown pirate himself and the prisoners from before not far behind them, so he jumped back once more, putting another seven or eight feet between him and the destroyed Marine base, as well as the men chasing him. Not that it discouraged them from following after him, and since that was the case he simply turned away from them, and began to run. As he did he could hear shouts of, 'COWARD!' from behind him, he didn't seem to care though, as he continued to race away from them until he reached the edge of town. Once there, he turned back around to face the men, putting his back to a house, only to see that they hadn't given up their pursuit, and that even the flying hands connected to forearms were still separated from their owner and coming after him.

With his back to this house though, he couldn't dodge backwards again, and going to the left or the right didn't seem like much of an option as the clown's half arms with sharp weapons in between the fingers would just continue to follow him, and the idea of letting them continue to chase him didn't sound so good. So he instead kicked off the ground and landed on the rooftop of the house, doing so at the last second, not allowing the levitating half limbs the time to follow him, causing them to embed their daggers into the wall of said building.

The straw hat teen didn't move from his spot atop the roof until the thirteen men chasing him were right below him, once they were, most of them looking up at him, Buggy doing the same but also working his daggers out of the side of the building, he stuck his tongue out at them, taunting them, before turning and jumping off the rooftop to land on the opposite side of the house that they were on.

They were of course even angrier after being so blatantly taunted, so it didn't take them more than a couple of moments to reach the new area the sixteen year old had entered, said area being a culdesac like place, a couple of buildings surrounding it in a half circle like manner, the only street leading into the rest of the town completely deserted.

Now that they had caught up to him, Buggy, no longer missing half his arms as they had been reconnected, let an evil grin cross his make-up wearing face, "Finally done running away punk?"

A large grin of his own appeared at those words, "Running away? Who said I was running away? I was just trying to get you guys away from that base, that's all." With that he broke into laughter, no longer holding his hat in place as he laughed in their faces.

The twelve prisoners growled at the scrawny boy, while Buggy went red in the face, enraged that he had been so easily tricked, "WHY YOU LITTLE BASTARD! TIME TO DIE!" He took aim with both arms once more, launching his hands with forearms connected with a cry of, "CHOP CHOP DOUBLE CANNON!"

Luffy merely dodged to the side, avoiding the attack, however he couldn't follow after it with his eyes as two of the prisoners had decided to charge him, so he had to focus on them. Both wielding swords, one went for a left swing, while the other went for a right, the teen simply ducked as they did, causing their blades to meet and clang together. As they did, the rubberman socked them both in the gut, causing them to nearly double over in pain, dropping their weapons as they did. He then glanced behind him, to check the position of the clown's attack, to see it mere inches from him, eyes widening slightly, he threw himself forward ahead of the two prisoners, and in doing so caused the daggers the hands were holding to pierce them instead of him like the attacker had intended.

None of the blades hit any vital spots on the two, but they were in more pain than they had been a moment ago, and as Buggy roughly pulled the daggers from the flesh of their abdomens, not really caring if he caused them anymore harm, it really didn't help their situation. Nevertheless, they weren't down for the count yet, picking their swords back up only moments later.

The raven haired teenager didn't notice this of course, as he was busy dodging the disembodied half arms of the clown pirate, running around in circles, accidentally diverting attention away from the fact that his attacker had just uncaringly almost killed some of the prisoners, this being the only reason they continued to fight with the big red nosed man.

Once more his attention was pulled away from the clown's attack, as four more of the white and black striped clothed men rushed him. One from each direction, except each one was closer than the next, so he attacked them in the order they reached him. The first one, from the front, was met with a fist to the gut, nearly doubling over from the force of the blow, dry heaving as he did. The second one, from the right, got an elbow strike to the chest, almost falling back in pain as he attempted to catch his breath after having it knocked out of him. The third, from the left, had a knee slammed into his abdomen, hunching over and coughing violently from the impact of the attack. The fourth, from behind, was actually dodged, as the sixteen year old side stepped him, before punching him in the side, possibly cracking, or even breaking a few ribs as he did, the man clutching his side in pain as he cringed.

None of the men were down for the count however, and Luffy knew this, so taking a quick step back, he pulled his right leg back, before whipping it towards them, it stretching so as to allow it to hit all four of them. "Gum Gum Whip!" The several foot long leg rammed into the prisoners, taking them for a ride for a moment or so, before the force of it caught up with them and sent them flying towards one of the buildings, crashing into and through it, dust emanating from the areas they slammed through the building at. That move, unlike the blows they had been dealt before, did put them down, cutting the number of enemies down by four.

The straw hat pirate's leg snapped back to it's original length, just in time, as the two bleeding prisoners from just moments ago, were charging him once more. Not giving them any time to get closer, he shot his right arm towards them, it stretching some to reach them, his fist ready to clobber them. "Gum Gum Pistol!" His pistol rammed into the first one's abdomen, slamming him back into the second one, and sending them both flying back roughly a dozen feet, until they crashed into the building two down from the one the other four had gone through. With that another two opponents had been taken out of the fight, leaving only six prisoners and Buggy left.

Speaking of Buggy, "Hey kid!"

The rubberman turned to face the only person he was currently fighting that he knew the name of, to see that almost half of his arms were still gone, since that was the case, they would surely be close by, since he liked to fight with them so much. And the evil grin he wore once more also gave a hint to the fact that they were close, so Luffy, being the, some would say simple minded, person that he was, turned around, thinking they would be behind him. Once he was facing away from the clown pirate, he found he was actually right, as the disembodied half limbs were in his face, about to stab him. His reflexes were even faster than anyone in this battle had thought them to be, as he caught ahold of the floating hands and forearms before his face could be impaled, and proceeded to spin around, completing one full go around, before tossing them back towards the man they belonged to. "Here, have these back, I don't want'em!"

As they came flying at him, Buggy looked ready to tear his hair out, though the fact that his own attack was technically being used against him wasn't why. The hands and forearms stopped mid flight once they were close enough to touch their owner, before righting their positions and reattaching themselves to him, as he screamed out, "How could you have possibly known they were behind you!? I mean, I specifically called your attention to me so you wouldn't notice them!"

His younger opponent didn't reply, he only looked at the clown like he was stupid. Seeing that he was being judged by this sixteen year old, this rookie punk, Buggy lost his temper once more, aiming his right arm at him as he began to scream, "WOULD YOU JUST DIE ALREADY YOU ANNOYING PEST!? CHOP CHOP CANNON!"

As he launched almost half his arm at his opponent once again, Luffy looked quite annoyed, "Really? That same boring move again? Can't you do something new?" He caught the pesky levitating disembodied hand and forearm by the latter of the two after asking this of his multi-colored clothes wearing enemy.

A nasty smirk crossed the clown's face then, "Separate."

With that his hand separated from his forearm and shot forward toward's Luffy's face, once more displaying his fast reflexes however, he moved his head to the side as fast as he could, preventing the other pirate from scoring a killing blow. Unfortunately the clown still managed to nick the rim of his straw hat, as well as the side of his forehead, a bit of blood beginning to trickle down from the small cut he now had.

He was barely bleeding, he hadn't even been knocked down, and yet his eyes seemed to harden somewhat as they looked up at the left side of his hat, where the small nick in it was. He stared at it for a moment, before his gaze fell to the ground, and he began to clench his fists tightly, trying to suppress the anger he felt.

As the teen did this, Buggy was gritting his teeth so hard that they could begin cracking at any moment, infuriated that he had barely scathed the damn brat, thinking to himself as he tried to keep himself from losing it, "What is it with this damned scrawny bastard!? Why's he so calm and carefree about fighting me!? Am I just some sort of joke to him!? He's the idiot rookie, not me! I should be the one controlling this fight! And what is with that damn hat of his!? Why is just the sight of it pissing me off o much!?"

A somewhat fierce look in his eyes, Luffy raised his gaze to the clown pirate, as he spoke, "You bastard!"

Seeing some kind of reaction from this punk outside of his happy and uncaring attitude, seeing that he had finally gotten him to at least be angry with him, a smile returned to his face, this one somewhat smug. "Why so angry punk? Was I not supposed to scratch your face or something?"

His anger showing on his face, the raven haired pirate responded to the only bounty having pirate in the area, "No one damages my hat and gets away with it! It's one of the only few treasures I have! And anyone who so much as lays a finger on it is gonna pay!"

Buggy seemed quite perplexed for a few moments by the much younger male's words, before deciding to humor the kid, as well as toy with him. "Hmm, seems that hat has a history to it. Some sort of sentimental value to it?"

Calming down just a bit, the teen confirmed that. "That's right."

Letting how he truly felt about such a thing known, he spoke, his skepticism of how much a simple hat could mean becoming obvious as he did. "Is it really all that special?"

The straw hat pirate didn't seem like he would respond at first, but he looked ready to speak only a few moments later, not that it mattered though, as the big red nosed man shouted, cutting off whatever he was about to say as he did, "If that's the case...THEN YOU SHOULD PROTECT IT!"

As the clown's disembodied hand and forearm tried for the dark haired teenager's hat from behind, he quickly sidestepped, avoiding the sneak attack altogether, the levitating body part continuing on towards it's owner. The attacker's eyes widened as it came at him, before he quickly remembered to force it to right itself, and reattach it to his body, making him whole once more. His eyes were wide as his hand and forearm returned, disbelieving of the fact that his plan had failed, "H-how...how did you know?"

The fierceness in his eyes increased somewhat as he answered, "You're just that obvious."

Eyes widening even further, the thirty something year old didn't know whether to be furious, or frightened, as this boy was something he hadn't seen since his days aboard Roger's ship. The runt was nothing compared to his old crew, but the way he was acting now...it reminded him of them.

Fists clenching just a bit tighter, the teenage pirate continued to speak, "Coming after my hat, after I told you how important it was to me, proves you're nothing but a lowlife. When Shanks gave me this hat, I promised him that I would take good care of it, until the day I became a great pirate, and returned it to him. For trying to damage it, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Buggy's eyes went from wide to narrowed then, his old grudge against Red Hair, as well as his rapidly growing hate for this punk before him, overriding any kind of fear or concern he might have felt over continuing to battle with this runt. "So that's why that damn thing is pissing me off so much!? It used to be Shank's hat!? I thought it looked familiar, but was convinced it couldn't be the same one! I should have know, seeing as he wore it for about as long as I knew him! I couldn't stand that damned detestable red haired bastard! Just thinking back to the days when we were apart of the same crew fills me with rage! I should kill you for so much as mentioning his name to me!"

Luffy didn't seem to take kindly to those words, "If you were apart of the same crew as Shanks, and know him as well as I do, then you should know that he's a much better man than you'll ever be! And for bad mouthing him, I'm gonna kick your ass twice as hard!"

With that said the young pirate rushed forward, running straight for the clown pirate. As he did, Buggy yelled, "Hold him down so I can kill him!"

For some reason, the six remaining prisoners followed that order, charging the angry sixteen year old, intercepting him on his way towards the big nosed clown. The first one to reach him got a hard left to the face, knocking him to the ground, the other five however reached him together, crowding him for a moment.

As he kicked those five around to get them out of his way, Buggy did his own part so as to make it where he could kill his pesky enemy, stashing the daggers he held in between his fingers with his right hand, taking aim and using another one of his moves. "Ground Hugging Chop Chop Cannon!" With that his hand, and only his hand this time, detached itself from his body, before going down low to the ground and shooting forward towards the teen pirate.

By the time it reached him, all six prisoners were on the ground moaning in pain, but it did manage to get to him unnoticed, since it did so it was able to do what it was intended to do, and that was to grab ahold of his left ankle, and root him in place to the spot where he currently stood.

While he noticed that he had been grabbed, two hidden blades came out near the front of Buggy's shoes, and he took a stance that looked like he was about to dash forward. Instead, his lower half separated from his upper half, and came whirling and spinning towards the rubberman like a buzz saw, the two small blades peaking from his shoe suddenly becoming much more deadly with this move. "Chop Chop Rice Cracker!"

Luffy, seeing the attack barreling towards him, quickly stomped on the disembodied hand holding him in place, forcing it to release it's grip, throwing his left arm forward as he did, it stretching so as to allow him to grab ahold of the building he was facing, and snapped towards it, sending him flying towards the house he had a grip on, and pulling him out of harms way.

The prisoners on the ground weren't so lucky, all of them being sliced up to a certain degree as the attack hit it's mark, and continued onward until it slammed into the building directly across from the one the rubbery teen was pulling himself over to.

His hand having returned to him and reattached itself, he returned the four daggers to between each of his fingers, and, currently only being a floating torso, equipped with head and arms of course, flew to the black haired devil fruit user, trying to cut him off and attack him with his blades. "I've got you now!"

"No you don't!" Mid snap back, Luffy, moving faster than Buggy, pulled ahead of him, put his feet together and bent his knees, causing his legs to from the shape of a spearhead, before shooting them out, stretching them as he did, ramming his feet into the clown's gut, the strength behind the attack causing a bit of blood to come flying out of the big nosed man's mouth, which was open in a silent scream. "Gum Gum Spear!" His legs continued to stretch after he rammed his feet into his enemy's abdomen, forcing the levitating upper half of his opponent backwards until he crashed into the same building his lower half had went through, kicking up even more dust than it.

His legs snapped back, returning to their normal length, just as his arm did, so he could let go and fall to the ground, and land firmly on his feet. He turned around to face the seven men behind him then, ready to continue the fight.

The prisoners had stumbled to their feet, slashes across their abdomens, and a few on their arms and legs, bleeding from each of them, thankfully, for them, not too badly though. They could still fight, but they were hurt, that was for sure. And this time, they weren't going to overlook what had been done to them by their own 'ally'. Their anger evident, they shouted in unison, "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing ya clown bastard!? We should kill you for cutting us up like this!"

Buggy stumbled out of the hole in the wall of the building he had crashed through, now whole once more, looking disoriented.

Before the prisoners could attack the clown however, all seven men's attention was called to the youngest of them in the area, the six white and black striped clothing wearing men having to turn around to see him, all of them looking to the rubberman, doing so because he had stretched his left arm out and grabbed ahold of the left side of the building they had their backs to at this point. He snapped towards them then, racing towards them only a few feet off the ground, stretching his right arm out so as to accommodate all of them with his next attack, "Gum Gum Sickle!"

All of their eyes widened as they realized that they had nowhere to go, or any time to dodge, well except for one of them that is...

"Chop Chop Quick Escape!" With that, just before he was hit, the clown pirate separated into six different pieces, and proceeded to fly over, or under the teenage pirate's outstretched arm, quickly escaping from harm.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" The prisoners cried, right before they were clotheslined by the several foot long arm, the move slamming them all into the building, putting six more holes in it, not that it mattered as just a moment later the whole structure came down on them, kicking up the most dust so far, covering the wreckage of the building completely in it. With that done, only one enemy was left.

As Luffy landed on his feet, and both of his arms snapped back to their original length, he turned to face the only opponent he had that was left standing.

The thirty something year old pirate had reassembled himself less than ten feet away, looking angrier and more distressed than ever before. "Just who do you think you are!? Huh Runt!? Who are you to challenge me!? You're supposed to be a pirate right!? Then why are you picking a fight with me instead of searching for treasure somewhere!?"

The rubbery teen seemed to have settled down a bit, as while he still looked ready to fight, he wasn't trying to rush the clown anymore. "You said you were going to conquer the Grand Line, but you're wrong. I'm the one who's going to conquer the Grand Line, because I'm the man...who'll be King of the Pirates!"

Buggy gaped at those words, somehow forgetting the teenager had already said them before, his eyes wide and disbelieving. He stayed like this only for a moment, before his eyes darkened, and he spoke, "You, be King of the Pirates!? That's ridiculous! It'll never happen! I'm the one who's destined to become Pirate King, and obtain all the world's treasures!"

Luffy raised his fists, entering a fighting stance, as he replied to that statement, "No way! I'm gonna be Pirate King, and no one's going to stop me! Especially not a lowlife like you!"

"Fool! If you were Pirate King, then that would make me God!" The older pirate bit back.

"I'll just have to kick God's ass then!" The younger pirate shot back.

Taking a fighting stance of his own, Buggy responded to those words, "Come at me then!"

"Gladly!" With that the sixteen year old pirate rushed his elder, closing in on him faster than he had anticipated he would. "Chop Chop Quick Esca-" The clown was cut off, as before he could initiate his technique, his younger opponent had closed the distance, and rammed his right foot into his gut, causing him to almost double over in pain as he began to cough violently from the attack. He didn't get time to recover, as only a moment later, he was kicked in the throat, knocking him back onto his back from the force of it.

As he lowered his leg so he was standing on both feet once more, the raven haired teen kept silent, letting his blows speak for themselves.

Sputtering as he sat up, clutching his throat in pain as he did, Buggy looked like he might throw up, yet managed to climb to his feet without losing his lunch. It took him a moment, but he eventually stopped spouting gibberish, as after being kicked in the throat he had tried to speak, just for a bunch of random noises to come out. "Why you sunuva bitch! Kicking me in the throat, trying to end the fight!? Fine then, have it your way! Let's end the fight!"

He took a certain stance then, one he hadn't entered before, his daggers at the ready, both his hidden shoe blades had been put up however. "With this next move, you'll die for sure punk! Say your prayers! Behold, my ultimate technique!"

With that Buggy split his body into a bunch of tiny chunks, only his feet and head staying intact. Since he was so close to the clown, Luffy was easily trapped by all the parts as they began to spin and whirl around him in a circle, less than an inch from touching him as they did. Only a moment later, they closed in around him, spinning even faster as they all began to pummel him, the blades his hands held cutting the straw hat pirate up all across his body. "Chop Chop Festival!"

Luffy guarded himself from all the attacks as best as he could, but there were so many parts, it was impossible to defend against them all. The best he was able to accomplish, was to remove his hat and clutch it between his arms and his chest, making sure to keep it from taking any damage, but allowing the rest of him to be battered, pummeled and sliced up. To keep any kind of pained noise from escaping his mouth, he grit his teeth, doing so with so much pressure, that if they weren't rubber they would have cracked. It worked, but only for a few moments, as all the pieces just began to spin faster, beating him harder and faster, since he was rubber though it didn't bother him all that much, the problem was the eight daggers that were in the mix, carving him up like a turkey. Eventually he couldn't hold it back, and a cry of pain escaped from his mouth, causing his enemy to smile smugly and evilly, before beginning to cackle maniacally.

"How's it feel runt!? My wrath that is, it must afflict your body with the worst kind of agony! I hope you remain conscious, so you can feel every second of it before you die! I told you, you're nothing but a rookie, no, a wannabe! You're not a real pirate! Just some kid playing pirate! You never had a chance of beating me! I'm the one who will rule the Grand Line, I'm the one who will become the Pirate King, and I'm the one who will attain all the treasures this world has to offer! Not you!"

"You're wrong!"

"What was that now? I can't hear you!" Buggy continued to cackle after saying this.

"I said you're wrong!"

"What? Come again? I still can't quite hear you! I'm afraid you're going to have to speak up!" The clown was having a hell of a time taunting this punk.

"I said...YOU'RE WRONG!" With that, Luffy kicked off the ground, breaking through the storm of body pieces, putting himself almost a dozen feet in the air as he did, placing his hat on top of his head mid air, continuing to cry out all the while, "YOU ARE WRONG! THE ONE WHO'LL BE KING OF THE PIRATES, IS ME!"

With that declaration he began to shoot his legs out, stretching them as he did to allow them to reach, using them to stomp on two different chunks that were Buggy's body, using one leg, then the other, before pulling one back and shooting it back down again, alternating between each leg as he did. And with each stomp his legs moved faster and faster, until at one point it looked like he had a lot more than two legs to stomp his opponent with, and each stomp hit a different part of the clown. "GUM GUM STAMP GATLING!"

As the straw hat pirate continued to furiously stomp down on piece after piece of Buggy, he began to cry out in pain, but gritted his teeth to silence himself quickly after, and using the only part of him that wasn't being stomped on, as even his feet were getting stomped on, he flew up towards the wildly kicking teen, dagger in between his teeth, ready to slit the rookie's throat. In spite of the fact that he was holding a dagger on his mouth, his words were still intelligible, "You won't beat me so easily! NOW, JUST DIE DAMN YOU!"

"I REFUSE! I WON'T DIE! NOT UNTIL I'VE REACHED MY DREAM!" The rubberman shut the clown pirate up then, as one of his stamps hit him, ramming his foot into his face, forcing his head down against the ground, cracking the pavement from the force of the stomp, the thirty something year old screaming in pain as this happened. And from there the raven haired sixteen year old began to kick even harder and even faster, causing each stomp to slam the chunks of his clown enemy into the ground so hard, that each time he did it he cracked the ground a little more.

This furious stomp assault continued for another several seconds, before coming to an end, with a final stamp, this one actually shoving Buggy's disembodied head two to three feet into the concrete, forming an indentation in it.

As his legs snapped back to their original length, and he landed firmly on his feet, Luffy checked to make sure his hat was undamaged, minus the small nick his opponent had put in it earlier, before glancing over at said opponent. Buggy was unconscious, his eyes rolled back in his head, his big nose broken, blood sliding down from his nostrils, his forehead busted open, the back of his head busted open and blood leaking from both corners of his mouth. He was also a mess of body pieces, all of them looking almost flat with how much they had been stomped on, nasty bruises already forming on some of them, most of his bones were also most definitely broken. All in all, he had been demolished.

While the straw hat pirate on the other hand, had around almost two dozen cuts all across his body, ranging from his abdomen, arms and legs, all of them being more than shallow, but not quite deep enough to be anything to be worried about. He also had a small cut on the left side of his forehead, from when his red nosed enemy nicked him and his hat. All these cuts were bleeding, and his clothing had also been damaged, but both he and his clothes had been through much worse, so it was all good.

Luffy only had one thing left to do that concerned Buggy the Clown, and as he came over to his disassembled body, and took the map from his sash, it was complete. With the chart of the Grand Line in hand, though he didn't know that was what it was, he began heading back to where the Marine base once stood.

**Luffy vs Buggy**

**Winner: Luffy**

* * *

Nami was going to head off to try and find Buggy, before she could however, her eyes caught sight of Coby and Helmeppo, lying in the rubble of what used to be the Marine base, both having difficulty breathing, and looking like they had been put through the ringer. And seeing them like that, she couldn't bring herself to leave without at least trying to help them. So she came over to them, their eyes on her as she stepped into the wreckage, one looking not sure of what to think of seeing her, the other holding obvious resentment for her, as she could see it in his eyes. Why did he feel like that? She had no idea, nevertheless she asked, "Are you two okay?"

Before they could answer her, she noticed the bodies that lie in the rubble with them, as she did she glanced downward, her eyes stuck on the ground for a few moments. Only for a few moments though, as soon enough she raised her head and asked once more, "Well, are you guys okay or not?"

They still hesitated to answer her, but before she could try and get them to answer her, or even decide to walk away, groans caught all of their attention, their eyes going to the marines that had stumbled outside of the base before it had been blown up, to see them pulling themselves to their feet, looking somewhat dizzy as they did. It was obvious they didn't know what was going on at first, evidence of that fact being that they just looked at the wreckage of the base, before looking at their captain, then each other. It took a moment, but it all seemed to click, and in spite of the fact that they were ecstatic over the fact that the bastard had been defeated, they looked sorrowful, as they came over to the rubble and began to mourn for their fallen comrades.

The orange haired teen let them do so in silence for a minute or so, even bowing her head to pay her respects, before turning to leave, as they would take care of the two injured teens, one of whom was younger than her, and the other was roughly the same age. Though before she could leave, she turned back to face them all, as what she guessed was the highest ranking of them spoke to her, "Miss...just what happened here?"

The sixteen year old wasn't sure how to explain that, whether to tell them the truth to the best of her ability, or make up some kind of excuse. It didn't matter though, for as she was opening her mouth to at least say something, the marine's eyes widened, filling with fear as they did, all of his comrades eyes doing the same, Coby having quite a similar look as all of them, and Helmeppo looking fearful and hopeful, causing the teenager to stop speaking before even starting. As she turned to face what everyone was staring at, she saw Morgan rising to his feet.

His eyes were wide and bloodshot, a look of something akin to insanity in them, as he raised his axe and loomed over the girl who had beaten him in battle. "I AM MARINE CAPTAIN AXE-HAND MORGAN! AND I'LL NEVER BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU! DIE!"

As he brought his axe hand down upon her, she froze, her chest tightening in fear, but just before it could hit her, someone appeared in between the raging marine and the young orange haired teen.

Everyone's eyes widened as the blade of the axe tore through the flesh of the left arm of the man who had stopped the weapon from hitting the teenage sneak thief, stopping just about an inch or so before the bone, not because he had wanted it too either. This man that now had the axe hand of Axe-Hand Morgan buried in his flesh, was none other than Monkey D. Luffy.

"L-Luffy...?" She questioned disbelievingly.

Luffy's hat was tilted downward, overshadowing his eyes so that they couldn't be seen. As he raised his head slightly, so as to look his enemy in the eyes, one could see that they were filled with fierceness and rage, something that Buggy hadn't come close to invoking, revealing just how serious an offense the muscle head had just committed, not that the bastard cared. The straw hat man didn't seem perturbed in the slightest, despite the fact that his left arm was roughly halfway to being chopped in half, a good deal of blood was streaking down his arm, which he held up in a one armed block, and that, to most eyes at least, he was at a severe disadvantage in this situation.

"YOU DARE TO INTERRUPT ONE OF MY EXECUTIONS!?" The large man shouted.

"This girl you're trying to execute, is very important to me. She and Zoro are my treasure, and no one is allowed to lay even a single finger on them. And if you dare to hurt one of them, I won't let you walk away alive. That's why you're lucky I was here to stop you, cause if you had hurt her, I'd have killed you." The calm and deathly serious way he stated this, it sent shivers down everyone's spines. He wasn't kidding, or exaggerating, and everyone could see that.

"IS THAT SO!? YOU'VE NO IDEA JUST WHO YOU'RE MESSING WITH, DO YOU PUNK!? I AM MARINE CAPTAIN AXE-HAND MORGAN! I AM-"

Luffy's right fist clenched tightly as the man began to go on about himself once more, before he drew it back, and proceeded to slam it into the side of the axe hand that was embedded in his flesh, shattering it into a bunch of tiny pieces as he did, only a small portion of it remaining intact, said small piece was still buried in the raven haired man's left forearm.

Everyone's eyes, including Morgan's, but excluding Luffy's and Nami's, widened to their fullest extent, their jaws dropping as they stared in awe and disbelief of what the sixteen year old had just done with pure physical force alone.

"Shut your trap! I'm sick and tired of you going on about how great you are! You're not that awesome! In fact, you're lame! You're lame, stupid and weak!" As he spoke, he pulled the piece of axe left in his arm out, before tossing it aside, it landing among all the other tiny pieces, it being the biggest among them.

Morgan began to sputter at those words, not sure how to reply, as this all baffled his mind, having gone so long thinking he was so great playing a big part in such a thing. After just a moment or so though, he managed to regain his speaking ability, "How could you...? I'm the captain...I am superior to all on this island..."

"No, you're just a bastard!" He lashed out with a right hook then, hitting the marine captain dead on in his jaw, the metal thing coming unhinged and flying off, as blood did something similar and came flying out of his mouth, the muscle head being knocked flat out onto his back.

All the marines as well as Coby and Helmeppo were completely speechless, their jaws on the floor, their eyes wide, completely unbelieving of the fact that the 'infamous' Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan had just been knocked out just like that, and the fact that his axe hand had been shattered with a single punch.

Nami, who Luffy still stood protectively in front of, was near tears as he had come to her rescue again, and she couldn't even... "Why Luffy? Why!? Why couldn't you have just waited a few more months!? Just a few more months!" Her thoughts were a whirl, as she was too choked up to audibly say any of this, not that she would have.

With the threat to Nami dealt with, Luffy lowered his heavily bleeding arm, before turning to her, and greeting her with the biggest smile he could manage.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	14. Complications

CosmicSynopsis: I'm glad that you think the fights were well written. As for the next chapter, here it is! :)

Tonlor: Ain't that the truth. As for Luffy being jealous because of Sanji's flirting with Nami...well, just wait, you'll see what I have in store for when said blonde joins the crew. And I'm overjoyed you that you like my story so much!

partner555: You'll find that out in this chapter my friend.

Stabboy: I couldn't be happier that I'm making you happy! XD

thewittywhy: Thank you so much! As for your idea with Kuro, I was actually already thinking about something like that, and while I can't promise he'll use it against him, I can promise seeing Kuro use his technique will help inspire Second Gear...or something along those lines.

midnightscar17: Island wise? Hmm...I'd say roughly...four. That is subject to change however.

Conan in love: Of course I'm still writing for this story! I'll drop dead before I stop for good!

HP-DG-SB-NR-AG-HA-TD-KB-RR-AJ: I am proud of that chapter, thank you nevertheless though. Yeah, unfortunately that happens to me sometimes. My fingers are flying across the keyboard and I manage to forget a word that's vital, sometimes it just happens. I try my best to make sure no words are missing when I upload a chapter, but it happens regardless. Now when I say that, please don't take it as I don't care, or I'm being arrogant about my writing, I've just gotten used to it happening, seeing as I don't have a beta and I proofread it myself. And I'm not going to lie, usually I'm either too excited to post a chapter, or have spent too much time on it and just want it to be done with, and end up not proof reading it nearly as well as I should, just scanning for missing words in the end.

It's not like I wouldn't like a beta either, it's just...I don't know, I put some dark stuff in my stories, as well as a few questionable things at times, and I don't like being judged. Yes, I know posting my stories is putting them out there to be judged, but it's much easier for me to handle a negative reactions, flames and just plain old hate comments from the general population of than it is a single person, who I would be entrusting my story in it's rarest form to. To add to that, anything I deem not fit is taken out before I put the chapter out, which makes things easier on me in that regard. Although if you, or anyone else for that matter, knows someone who can help me out, I'll gladly have a chat with them over PM. But enough of that nonsense, thank you so much for your kind words.

Also, I forgot to tell you guys that certain events that happened before the current timeline have also been changed, if only slightly, so certain backstories, among other things, could be different in this story than in the Canon timeline. With that said, characters's strength levels are subject to change in this story as well, meaning certain characters might be stronger here than they were in the Anime/Manga. This is accredited to two things, first the Strawhats are stronger than they were before, and their future members will also become stronger than they were in Cannon pre-timeskip, and second is the fact that there is debate over how strong certain characters are, such as Mihawk for example, as some say he's a strong as an Admiral, some say he's stronger, I've even heard a couple say he's weaker, there is however no definitive proof of these claims, so I will determine strength levels myself for this story. Though I personally believe he's stronger than an admiral.

Kuma is one such character that will be receiving a strength boost, as well as a few others I don't feel like revealing.

One last thing before we begin, I've set up a poll on my profile that I'd like all of you to go vote on. It's for what One Piece movies you'd like to see me include in this story. The reason movies twelve, ten and and six are absent from list is because I have already decided to include them. Ten and twelve for obvious reasons, six because...well, I like dark stuff. As for why movie eight and nine are missing, they're just revisionings of arcs, so they're no go's. And movie eleven is missing because...well, just because. However, in the case of movies eight and nine, I might take a few things from them and add them into the real arcs, if I do what should I take and what should I leave? Give me your suggestions in the form of private message, PM, please.

Note that any movie not dubbed in English, which is all of them except for ten and twelve, eight as well but it's not being used, will be subject to alteration, not just the overall plot, but the characters, locations and events. They will be formed to fit my One Piece timeline, just like ten and twelve, but to a much higher degree, with a lot more changes. Such as character strength level, place in the timeline and villain motives for example.

If you guys are okay with that, then everything should go fine. So go ahead and vote on the movie you want to see included in this story. Depending on how many votes the movies get, I might add more than one, I'll decide on that eventually. If you don't wish to vote, than don't, it's completely up to you. I myself am just fine with doing only movies six, ten and twelve. I'm only putting this poll up so that you guys could vote for your favorite movie, out of the ones on the poll anyway. And if you don't want me to add anymore movies than those three, then don't vote, or better yet, put your vote in the no other movies option, as if that's the one that gets the most votes, then I won't do any of the other movies.

That's about it, now onto the next chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Nami, who Luffy still stood protectively in front of, was near tears as he had come to her rescue again, and she couldn't even... "Why Luffy? Why!? Why couldn't you have just waited a few more months!? Just a few more months!" Her thoughts were a whirl, as she was too choked up to audibly say any of this, not that she would have.

With the threat to Nami dealt with, Luffy lowered his heavily bleeding arm, before turning to her, and greeting her with the biggest smile he could manage, offering the piece of paper he had retrieved to her as he did. "Here ya go Nami."

The orange haired teen took it wordlessly, still doing her best to fight back tears as her mind continued to race. "What do I do, what do I do, what do I do!?"

"Luffy, yo-you ju-just, you-" Coby stuttered, before being interrupted by the remaining marines.

"You've just set this island free, thank you, thank you so much!" One marine said, the rest following with their own thank yous, all of them glad just to have seen that bastard taken down a peg.

The raven haired teen's smile would have grown bigger at that if it could have. "Hey there Coby, you alright?" As he asked his pink haired friend this, he removed his hat from his own head and placed it on Nami's, walking towards said friend after doing so.

The glasses wearing boy stuttered out an affirmative as his older friend came to a stop in front of him.

Helmeppo was still in a state of sheer disbelief, never even dreaming someone could do something like that to his father, let alone with only a single punch, his eyes glued to the one who had done this, said teen only a foot or so from him currently. Managing a bit of courage, though really it was stupidity brought about by anger, he wobbled to his feet, saying as he did so, "You stupid, damn pirate! You've-" Before he could even finish, the dark haired pirate knocked him to the ground with a punch to the top of the head, rendering him unconscious.

It showed that Luffy was rubbing off on Coby, as the younger boy didn't even acknowledge what his friend had just done to the blonde, however his own personality shone as well, seeing as he began to freak out once again, this time over the injuries the rubber man had collected from his fight with Buggy and his encounter with Morgan.

Nami couldn't hold her tears back anymore, they began to fall silently but steadily as she lamented over what to do. "I can't go with him, not now, I just can't! If I did, he'd find out, and when he did he'd charge in and get himself killed, and I couldn't handle that, I just couldn't! He can't die! But I can't not go with him, he'd just chase after me and it would end the same! So what do I do, what the hell do I do!?"

She continued to wrestle with her conundrum, until Zoro found his way onto the scene, the teenage sneak thief wiping her tears away as she came to the only solution she could think of. "I have no choice, I have to get him to let me leave the crew one way or the other. So...I'll have to make him angry, so angry he'll kick me out."

Her resolve in place, she turned to face the others, getting ready to be as bitchy as possible as she walked over to them.

* * *

Nami sat in the back of the diner that Rika's mother owned, looking quite irritable as she did, watching while Luffy and Zoro stuffed their faces at the counter, where they got the easiest and best access to food. In spite of their injuries, they were as rowdy as ever, razzing each other and goofing off as they devoured the free buffet.

Luffy had his left arm elbow on down covered in bandages, ending at the wrist, as well as bandages on the left side of his forehead and a few spread across the rest of his body. Only the wound he had on his arm needed stitches, he had refused to get them however. Nevertheless, the medical treatment he did receive was free of charge, just as Coby's and Zoro's was. Speaking of said green haired swordsman, besides the malnutrition, he only needed the wound in his side wrapped, which had been done as well the wrapping of his captain's injuries had been.

The entire upper half of Coby's head was wrapped up in bandages, like part of a mummy, like his two older friends though, he didn't seem to mind this much, as he too was happy.

After finishing what was currently left on his plate, Zoro leaned back in his chair as he patted his stomach, a big smile on his face. "Man, it's been so long since I've been full! I honestly forgot how good it feels! Then again, maybe that's just because I was tied up so long that I was ready to gnaw through my own damn bootstraps!"

Coby, Rika and her Mother laughed at the green haired man's words. As they did so, Luffy continued to eat, commenting on the fact that his first mate was finished already as he did. "I can't believe you're still such a lightweight Zoro."

"Luffy, you could eat an entire herd of cattle and not be full." The swordsman responded.

Taking a big bite of meat, the younger man proceeded to shoot back, "Yeah, so?"

This remark caused Coby, Rika and her Mother to laugh some more, Zoro chuckling a little as well.

Nami's response to the situation on the other hand, was to roll her eyes and groan in annoyance.

"So Luffy, now that you've found your friends, where do you guys plan on going next?" The only one in the room with pink hair asked.

"To the Grand Line of course!" He exclaimed happily, as he finished what was on his plate.

"I figured as much." Zoro stated evenly, not giving away whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Frickin dumbass." Nami whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear, causing Zoro to shoot her a look of irritation.

"What!? The Grand Line!? No way, NO WAY! How could a crew of only three ever hope to survive the treacherous waters of the Grand Line, let alone conquer them!?"

Luffy raised a fist at that, Coby instantly calmed down because of said action, as he learned he was stepping on his older friend's toes again. Nevertheless, he wasn't just going to drop the subject. "But Luffy, you guys don't even have a map of the Grand Line. How are you all gonna make it?"

The rubber teen shrugged at that, "Don't know what we'll do about getting a map, but we'll manage."

"Hey genius, we already have a chart of the Grand Line." The orange haired teen interjected, her exasperation with her captain obvious.

The dark haired pirate captain gave her an inquisitive look, his confusion apparent as he asked, "We do?"

"Yeah. we do. That rolled up piece of paper you gave me, the one you got off Buggy, that was it."

"Oh, didn't know that. There's our map problem solved then."

"Why'd you give it to me if you didn't know what it was?"

"Because you wanted it."

That took the young woman off guard, all the forced foulness that was in her tone before disappearing then, causing her to ask dumbly, "What?"

"I saw you trying to snatch it from Buggy, figured you wanted it, so after I kicked his ass I took it from him and gave it to you, that simple."

"Oh." Was the navigator's only response, too shocked to say anything else or keep up her act of annoyance.

Just then everyone's attention was pulled to the front door of the restaurant, as the remainder of the marines on the island entered the establishment. The highest ranking of them was the one to step forward and speak, doing so once it was appropriate. "We are extremely grateful that you not only freed the town from Morgan's tyranny, but also saved it from the pirate attack it was under. However, in spite of such things, you're pirates yourselves, and therefore I must ask you to leave."

Vehement protests were given by Rika and her Mother, and the rest of the village would undoubtedly voice their own protests as well once they found out, the citizens too busy rebuilding to be with their heroes at the current moment. Nevertheless, the new CO of the island continued, "Seeing as you saved this town twice over today, we won't pursue you, neither will we report what you've done here, but you must depart. As we are marines, we cannot allow you stay, despite what you've done. I'm sorry about this, I am, but it's how it has to be."

Luffy stood at that, Zoro and Nami doing the same, as their captain said, "We understand, let's go guys."

As the three were about to exit the building, the CO spoke once more, "Isn't he with you?" gesturing towards Coby as he did.

Looking back at the pink haired boy, Luffy responded with, "Him? No, though we did pick him up from this other group of pira-"

The glasses wearing boy's eyes widened a great deal as he realized what his friend was about to, seemingly, unwittingly do. "Luffy, NO!" Seeing as how he wasn't stopping, Coby lunged at the straw hat teen, socking him in the face so as to shut him up, keeping him from ruining his dream forever.

The raven haired sixteen year old retaliated immediately, slugging him back, knocking him straight to the floor. Before it could go any further than that though, the head marine officer intervened, "Hey, break it up! It's obvious he isn't one of you, so be on your way already!"

Luffy did just that, taking only a moment to glance back at the younger boy, winking at him as he did, before turning and leaving, Nami and Zoro following suit.

And as they left, Coby's eyes widened once more, it dawning on him what his friend had just done for him. Deciding now was the time, he shot to his feet, and poured his heart out the the commanding officer, in hopes that he would heed his plea, and allow him to enlist in the marines.

* * *

Nami made a snide remark once she saw their boat, it barely being big enough for all three of them to fit in. Luffy didn't pay it any mind, and Zoro brushed her words off, still the swordsman couldn't help but want to tell her to shut it, he refrained from doing so of course though. Silence followed after that, as they began drifting away from the docks.

Before they could get too far however, something on the shore caught their attention. There, where they had been docked only minutes ago, were the remaining marines all lined up in a formation, Coby with them, as they all assumed the customary stance and saluted them. And they held their positions until the three's boat was out of sight. "You've got some great friends there kid."

Coby had to hold his tears back as he agreed with his new CO's words, "Yeah, I do."

As all the marines fell back into the regular formation, dropping their arms as they did, exiting their salute, their CO said this, "We've broken code men, saluting pirates like we did. As punishment, no food for three days!"

"Sir yes Sir!" Was the unanimous response.

* * *

Several hours later...

Not five minutes after the island Shells Town was on had faded from their line of sight, Nami made another derogatory statement about their mode of transportation, and continued to do so for almost half an hour. From there she found anything and everything she could pick at about the two, and did so, seemingly almost deliberately trying to be aggravating, and finally Zoro decided he just couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, what is up your ass!?"

"Excuse me!?"

"You heard what I said! Ever since the three of us got back together, it's been nothing but non-stop bitching with you! So just spit it out already, what the hell is your problem!?"

"You wanna know what my problem is!? My problem is you two idiots! I mean, do you really think I want to be here, stuck is this tiny ass boat with you guys!?" So angry was the young orange haired woman, she actually leaned into her growing in volume words.

"Could've fooled me! After all, you were the one who promised to join the crew as Navigator when we were kids! You decided that for yourself, no one forced you!" The green haired swordsman did the same, as his anger grew along with hers.

"Oh yeah!? Well you know what, you're right! When I was a kid I made some stupid promise, guess that means I'm bound to you two for all eternity right!? Newsflash, I. Was. A. Child! I have more important things to do than follow you two around!"

"Nami, you don't really mean that, do you?" Luffy asked, finally interrupting the two's argument, catching both of their attention and getting their eyes on him.

"Yes! Yes I do! I don't have time to waste on your stupid dream Luffy! Just face it, I've outgrown you!" She was suddenly on her feet as she screamed this at the raven haired sixteen year old, tears falling from her eyes once more, all the while she mentally cursed what she was doing.

Luffy's eyes widened a good deal in shock at those words, the pain they caused him all too evident in his big eyes. The young woman who had caused the pain to be there looked away at the sight of it.

Zoro shot to his feet then, the small boat shaking quite violently from how sudden and fast the green haired teen stood, the wooden thing almost tipping over in fact. "How dare you-!"

"Don't."

Once more the swordsman's eyes went to his captain, as he spoke. He still looked hurt, hell the shock hadn't faded yet, and still he told him to not to do what he wanted so bad to do

"Just don't."

As much as Zoro didn't want to, he sat back down, gritting his teeth as he did, so as to keep himself from saying a few choice words towards the only female in the boat.

"I see. Alright then, just tell me where you want to go."

Slightly surprised by his words, Nami couldn't help but look back at him, only to not even be able to see his face, as his hat covered his eyes and his head was lowered. "We'll drop you off at any island you want, just name it and we'll go there."

"You will?" She asked.

"If that's what you want."

Silence filled the air then, no one saying a word for a long while, before it was broken by Nami, "Thank you. I need to leave as soon as possible, however you guys need a ship, as well as a navigator, lacking that, anyone with a decent sense of direction and passable knowledge of the sea will have to do. So before I leave, I'll help you two find these things. After that though, I have to go."

Luffy merely nodded his head in acceptance at her words, while Zoro didn't give more than a grunt, his anger showing through as he did.

"It's settled then." Wiping her tears away for the second time that day, Nami sat back down, checking their heading as she did, so as to make sure they hadn't knocked themselves off course with that little spat of theirs.

* * *

Only a little while later and they were docked, Nami tying up the boat so it wouldn't drift away. "Okay, if I remember correctly, this lovely little place is known as Orange Town. We should be able to find someone here who can help us out, if not then hopefully they can at least point us in the right direction of where we can get you guys a boat, or a Navigator, or hopefully even both."

Having finished tying the boat to the dock, she began leading the way into town, Luffy and Zoro following along as she did, both lagging a good twenty paces behind, both silent, and both in less than happy moods.

As the straw hat pirate followed along, he couldn't help but let his eyes drift to Kuina's sword, safely sheathed and strapped to Zoro's right hip. The name of said blade slowly coming to him...Wado, the Wado Ichimonji. "Zoro, you never told me, why do you have Kuina's sword? It's her treasure. Did she give it you?" The sixteen year old's voice was quiet, calm and even, showing that while he was still upset, he was still curious, though judging by the fact he was being quiet he already knew it was going to be a touchy subject.

Zoro made no real perceptible show that he was listening to his best friend and captain, only his eyes going to the form of his brother. The two made eye contact and no move was made to break it for several long moments, even as they continued to follow their female friend, before Zoro did just that, as he began to explain why he had come to posses the blade. "It's a part of the promise I made to her, as well as the last semblance of her will." His voice would give nothing away to a stranger, or even most of the people he had known in his life, Luffy was not most people however, therefore he sensed the underlying emotion in his words, causing his eyes to widen a good deal once more. "Zoro, I-"

"No need to apologize Captain. I was going to tell you anyway, just not until we were alone."

Silence filled the air then, as even though they were in town, no one was around, and none of the three were making more than the slight noise that was caused by their footsteps.

"Zoro...how?" The silence was broken with the whispered question, though only the one who asked it and had been asked it could hear it.

Zoro understood what his best friend was asking him, so wasted no time in answering. "It was an accident. She had fetched a sharpening block and was on her way upstairs, back into the dojo, when she tripped. She tried to catch herself, but...her right arm was severely injured, and was of no real use to her. Because of that, there was no way to save herself, so she fell down the stairs...and snapped her neck by the time she hit bottom."

The green haired swordsman stopped then, but looked like he wanted to keep going. Before his brother could prod him into doing so, he did it himself. "It was my fault. Her arm got messed up in our last duel, when, like an idiot, I challenged her with a real sword. It was the first time I beat her, but even so, it showed that my control was awful, seeing as I nearly severed her arm in the process. Because of my stupidity she died, I killed her."

"Zoro, don't say that! It wasn't your fault! You couldn't have known that was going to happen!" The raven haired teen's harsh whispers were filled with conviction, which actually made the older teen feel better. While he still felt it was his fault, to hear his best friend say that it wasn't was helpful. "Thanks Luffy, I appreciate that."

Despite the small smile his swordsman friend offered with his words, Luffy still looked displeased, as he could see it in the older man's eyes, he still believed it was his fault. Now was not the time to push the subject however, that didn't mean the straw hat teen would just forget about it though.

"I promised her, the day before she died, that one of us would become the world's greatest swordsman one day. I carry the Wado Ichimonji not only to remind me of that promise, but also as a representation of her will. That is why I carry her blade."

"I see." Such a response from Luffy was unusual, but there wasn't any other appropriate response, not that either he or Zoro ever cared about being appropriate.

Before the two could converse any further, Nami came to a stop, they doing as she did, as they had realized the same thing she had, all three of them looking around at the seemingly abandoned town. Nami was the one to voice what they were all thinking, "Where is everyone? This place looks deserted."

While no answer came, the three's attention was caught by shouting in the distance, it just starting a moment ago. Seeing as whoever was shouting was probably the only person still here, they went to check it out.

* * *

The scene the three old friends came upon was that of a group of men, fifteen to be exact, having a shouting match with an old man wearing glasses, dressed in a plaid yellow shirt, black shorts, and some makeshift brown armor, a chestplate and gauntlets to be more specific. As they drew closer, the shouting increased in volume, and as it did, a small white dog made itself known, beginning to bark up a storm. The men, who appeared to be pirates from their clothing and weapons, didn't take kindly to the dog, if the change in their postures and the expressions on their face meant anything that is.

Just as it looked like it was going to turn violent however, Luffy recognized the men, calling out to them as he did. "Hey, it's you guys!"

The pirates turned to look at the one who had just called to them, as he was less than ten feet away at this point, they recognized him immediately, paling as they did. "I-it's y-you!" Several of them near screamed in fright.

Luffy began laughing as he and his friends came to a stop, "Yeah, nice to see you guys again. Oh, Zoro, Nami, these guys are the ones I told you about."

Zoro didn't look too happy to see them. "You mean the ones who offered you food, before you mysteriously fell overboard?"

"Yeah, those guys. Hey, do you think I can have that food now?"

The captain of the crew chuckled nervously before answering, "Of course, just, uh, just let us finish up here, and then we'll give you everything we have, I promise."

Luffy on the other hand chuckled genuinely, his smile growing just a fraction, "Really? That's really cool of you guys, thanks a lot."

"Heh heh heh, n-no, uh, no problem."

With the old man and the dog both still looking like they were ready to fight, Nami couldn't help but ask, "Just what is going on here anyway?"

"Well, uh, you see, we-"

Before the pirates could try and explain, the old man started to speak, going into a long explanation slash speech about how this was his and his people's town, and that they were scum for ransacking them, and for what they were trying to do to Chouchou, the dog, and his deceased owner's pet shop. Revealing why the place was so special to the little dog in doing so, as well as revealing the dog's name, and his own name.

The cruelest, as well as the stupidest, member of the crew spoke up once Boodle was done. "You're stupid if you think any of us care about that crap old man. These guys are pirates too, meaning that they give about as much of a shit as we do."

With that piece of info, the two looked backed into a corner, not sure what to do, Boodle sweating and Chouchou growing even more ferocious, lunging out and sinking his teeth into the hands of the captain, causing him to cry out and begin trying to shake the dog off. This continued for several moments, before he managed to pry him off, before kicking him as hard as he could, knocking him into the wall of the pet food shop he defended so vigorously, whining in pain as he hit it. "Stupid fucking dog!"

As the captain turned to look back at the other three, he saw Luffy wasn't smiling anymore, in fact he didn't look happy in the slightest. Before he could ask why, before he even knew what happened really, the rubber teen had grabbed him by the back of the head, and proceeded to slam his face down into the ground, knocking several teeth out of his mouth and rendering him unconscious.

Cries of surprise came from the other fourteen men as this happened, though they were shut up only a moment later, as the same teen proceeded to knock them all out.

Both Boodle and Chouchou looked quite flabbergasted at what had just happened before them, in less than in ten seconds to boot. The shock wore off after Luffy came over to Chouchou and began to pet him, asking the dog if he was alright as he did.

Tears began to flow from Boodle's eyes, as the largest smile he had worn in his life crossed his face. "Thank you, thank you so much! The townsfolk are never going to believe this! Ho-how, how can I ever repay you!? If I have it I'll give it, I swear!"

Nami was the one to speak then, "Actually, there might just be something you can help us out with..."

* * *

By the time the next day rolled around, the three were still in Orange Town. Seeing as they were being treated to a small feast, and were promised by Boodle that he could help them out though, it made sense for them to stick around.

It was a little after noon that the three were pulled away from the rest of the townsfolk by Boodle, the old man taking them to the dock, where a pretty decent sized ship awaited them. The four came to a stop, as the eldest of them began to explain. "I don't have the money nor the resources to give you three a boat, however, I am the mayor of this town, and by calling in a few favors I managed to get you guys a chance to meet someone who can definitely help you out."

None of the three got to respond, as the sounds of footsteps caught their attention, their eyes going to the man stepping off the boat.

He was a slim man with slicked back black hair, black eyes and round black framed glasses. He wore a black suit with two golden markings on it over a white shirt with a curious collar, with spiral-like protrusions on the edges, and a standard black tie. He also sported striped shoes.

Once off the boat, he shared pleasantries with Boodle, before turning to the other three, offering his hand for a handshake, which Luffy took, as he introduced himself to them, doing so with a most charming smile. "It's a pleasure to meet such brave young people like you, to put yourselves at risk to help this town, quite admirable of you. My name is Klahadore, and I just might be able to help you three out."

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	15. The Fourth Crewmember

F-ckthesystem125: Indeed it is, and I'm afraid it's going to get much worse before it starts to get better.

Tonlor: Hope this is soon enough for you. Believe me, Kuro'll get what's coming to him, no doubt.

Ranger Station Charlie: Well thank you, I do my best to keep them in character, but also to remember how these different events have affected them. As for shaking things up, you bet your ass things are gonna get shaken up! I already have several instances planned that will do just that...(Insert evil laughter here).

Forzarismo: You don't need to try and convince me, I've thought Luffy should have killed Arlong since I first saw the arc. However, things are never that simple. What will happen when the rubber captain and the monstrous fishman meet? Only time will tell.

Johnny Spectre: I suppose they could. Looking at them, I see a few I really want to do, besides Strong World, Film Z and Baron Omatsuri, as I've wanted to do those from the beginning. As for Luffy, he can tell she's not telling him everything, but she's desperate to keep him safe and is a good actor, so it's hard to see through the masquerade.

Mazzax: I don't believe you're right about that. I'm pretty sure her birthday is July Third, which even if she was born the year before Luffy, would make her ten months older than him, not eight. And if she was born the same year, she'd be roughly two months younger than him, seeing as his birthday's May Fifth. Nevertheless, this is an AU story, so I can distort whatever I wish to, as that's the purpose of an alternate universe story. Does that help clear things up?

One thing before we begin, the poll for the movies that's up, it'll be staying there for several chapters, so no need to rush when it comes to voting. However, it'd probably be best if you voted before chapter twenty two, as that's most likely when it'll be time to take it down.

Now then, onto the next chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Klahadore all sat inside the dining room of the ship, where the former of the two just finished filling themselves with food and booze, quite messily, in spite of the fact that they had already had a bunch of their vices no less than twenty four hours ago.

As Nami attempted to clean up after the two, she hurriedly apologized to the well dressed man. "I am so sorry, these two have a bad habit of making big messes like this."

Klahadore pushed his glasses up onto his face so they didn't fall off, as he waved off her apology. "There's no need for apologies, now my dear, allow me." He took the cloth from her, that she had been using to clean up the other two's mess, and began to do just that himself.

"Oh no, you don't have to-"

"Please Mrs., this is no trouble. It's my job to clean up after people, among other things. I am, after all, a butler."

The orange haired teen gave him a grateful smile, before turning towards her two childhood companions, her smile falling away, replaced with a scowl. "Would it kill you two to show some manners for once?"

Zoro rolled his eyes at her words, not paying her the slightest bit of attention. Luffy however tried to not look too guilty, as he said, "Maybe it would..."

Nami gritted her teeth, as she tried to keep from getting too angry with the two. "You know what, I oughta-"

Sweat began pouring down Luffy's face at a rapid pace, as a fearful look came into his eyes, the memory of Bellemere bashing his head in with that ladle of hers when he was being particularly unpleasant during one night at dinner making itself known in his mind. "Nami, you...you aren't gonna tell Bellemere about this, are you?"

The sixteen year old girl's eyes widened at that name, a brief flash of pain, sorrow, regret and resentment swirling together in them, before she quickly turned around, hiding her face from her dark haired friend. "No Luffy, I'm not gonna tell her." With that she left the dining room, going out onto the deck.

Luffy had caught the signs of emotion in her eyes, so stood and followed her, without giving a word to the other two.

No more than a moment passed after the dining room door closed, and the straw hat teen reached the young thief's side. "Nami, what was that?"

She didn't look at him as she answered, her eyes focused on the horizon. "What that?"

"You're eyes, they looked like...it looked like you wanted to cry again. But it also looked like you wanted to hit something. Something's causing you pain Nami. What is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She continued to not look at him, as if she did, she felt she might cry again.

Silence fell between the two then, it hanging there for several long moments, before Luffy decided to break it. "I can see you don't want to tell me. Then can you at least tell me why you've been stealing from everyone we've met so far?"

She turned to him, her surprise evident, as she asked, "W-what?"

"You stole from the people back at Shells Town, you stole from the people at Orange Town, you even stole that Klah-guy's wallet."

Her eyes widened as her surprise grew, "How'd you know that?"

The slightly older boy shrugged his shoulders as he answered. "The extra training I asked for from Gramps taught me to be wary of your opponent's every little move, as I needed to know what he was going to throw at me next or else he probably'd have killed me eventually, so I learned what his movements meant and learned to predict them. When I'd look over at you, I'd see you subtly moving about, swiping things from people." He stopped for a moment, as if he was thinking about something, before asking, "So why do you keep stealing from everyone?"

She huffed in response, turning away as she responded. "I don't believe that's any of your business."

"Please tell me?"

She could see him making those puppy dog eyes at her from out of the corner of her eye, which caused her to huff once more, however..."If you must know, I need to amass a sum of one hundred million berries." It did get her to tell him.

Luffy cocked his head to the side at that, seemingly confused. "What for?"

Once more it looked like she wasn't going to answer his question, before he could subject her to his big eyes again though, Zoro and Klahadore came out onto the deck with them.

The swordsman came to his captain's side, before sitting down on the deck, looking like he was almost ready for a nap.

The butler on the other hand, stopped a few feet from the three, and began to speak. "We shall be there soon, and since that is the case, allow me to ask something of you three."

Having caught their attention, he continued. "Please refrain from letting anyone know that you are pirates, as it would cause panic amongst the village. The villagers would, understandably, freak out and alert the Marines to your presence on our island. And if, somehow, word were to get to them that I brought you there, then it would cause horrible repercussions for my Mistress. Above all else, that is something I cannot allow to happen."

Zoro didn't say anything, only closing his eyes in response. While this man was helping them, it was ultimately his captain's decision what they would do. If he wished to do as this guy asked, then that was what they'd do. If he wished to cause trouble, then that was what they'd do. However, the green haired teen was sure that his younger friend would want to abide by this butler's request, as he was helping them out.

Just as the eighteen year old had thought, Luffy smiled at the well dressed man, and agreed to his request. Cutting off the orange haired cartographer, who was about to respond for them.

Klahadore bowed slightly to the three, his charming smile widening, as he thanked them. "Thank you three. Knowing my actions won't bring any misfortune to my Mistress is a heavy weight lifted from my shoulders."

* * *

As the boat docked and the four came ashore, they were greeted by a little over a dozen pirate flags with a precarious jolly roger, said flags sitting on the top of a cliff side. Before the four could even comment on said flags, a person came out from the bushes and trees upon the cliff, the sun, being behind this person, made it just about impossible to see them. "Greetings travelers! I am the great Captain Usopp, of the Usopp Pirates! Me and my eighty million men rule over this island! So don't dare think about causing any trouble, or you'll face our wrath!"

Nami quirked a brow at this outlandish and downright ridiculous lie, Zoro looked impartial to the matter and Klahadore looked quite annoyed.

Luffy though, his face lit up at the sound of that voice. "Usopp, is that you!?"

"Eh, Luffy!?" The voice responded, before the person proceeded to tumble down the cliff side, having slipped after leaning forward too far to get a better look at the four.

"Usopp?" Zoro and Nami questioned in unison, recognizing the name but not being sure what to make of it being used.

Three voices were heard then, crying in unison, "Oh no! They got the captain! Run!"

However, everyone's attention was on the person who had just been speaking. Said person hit the sand very ungracefully, doing so face first, before hurriedly scrambling to their feet, spitting out sand as they did. Now standing, the four got a good look at this person.

Usopp was a slim male with medium length black curly hair and a long nose. He wore a pair of brown overalls with a white sash and no shirt underneath, as well as brown shoes that matched his outfit. Upon his head was an olive green plaid bandanna, with a pair of clear rectangular goggles resting on it. Finally, he had a blue and white striped armband on his left forearm. Not to mention he was also carrying around a light brown/cruddy yellow satchel.

Usopp's face lit up just as bright as Luffy's did, as he realized the rubber teen was actually here. "Luffy, it is you!"

The two proceeded to run towards each other, before meeting halfway and hugging, as they yelled out how nice it was to see the other again, both teens looking like they were fighting back an ocean of tears as they did.

"This is Usopp?" Zoro questioned.

"As in, the son of Yasopp?" Nami questioned further.

That got the long nosed teen's attention. "You told these guys about me?" The tears he had been seemingly fighting back were gone all of the sudden.

"No, these guys are who I told you about. The ones who lived on Dawn Island with me and met your dad." His threatening to fall tears also seemed to have miraculously vanished.

Stepping away from his month younger friend, Usopp spoke to the other two. "Oh, so you guys are Nami and Zoro?"

He moved closer to them then, as he shook both their hands, saying this as he did. "Glad to meet my fellow crewmates."

"Crewmates? He's joining our crew?" The swordsman asked.

"Yeah, don't worry, Usopp's awesome! He can build all kinds of stuff and is a really good sharp shooter, so he'll be our marksman. Careful though, he does have a really bad lying problem."

"Hey!" Usopp shouted.

"Yeah, no need to worry about us Captain, doubt we'll be falling for any crappy lies like his."

"Hey!" Usopp shouted once more, this time in Zoro's direction.

Shaking that off, Usopp spoke once more. "Anyway, now that you guys are here, let me treat you."

Just as Nami was going to say they had already eaten, she was cut off by both of the other two boys.

"Meat!"

"I could go for a drink."

"Do you two ever stop with the food and the booze!?" She questioned incredulously.

It was apparent they weren't listening as they followed after Usopp.

Sighing in defeat, she prepared to follow them. Before she did though, she turned to Klahadore to apologize for the rude behavior. "Sorry about this, we'll be-" She stopped, realizing she was talking to the air. Even after taking a quick look around, she couldn't find a trace of the kind butler. "I wonder where he went?"

Deciding she'd deal with it later, she turned to follow after the three boys.

* * *

As the group ate and drank, Nami excluded seeing as it had only been two hours or so since their last meal, stories were told. More specifically, stories about Luffy's, Zoro's and Nami's time together on Dawn Island.

Usopp was left in stitches after the one about how Luffy tied himself to a bear on accident.

Soon enough, the obvious question came up.

"So, you and Luffy already know each other?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, we actually met a few years ago." Usopp said.

"Gramps decided to make one last ditch effort to try and make me change my mind and become a marine. With Ace having already set out, no one could back me up in a fight against him, so he won out. We ended up going on a small tour of the East Blue. One of the islands we stopped at was this one. We were docked here for about a week before moving on. We might have stayed longer, but when he found out I met someone who wanted to be a pirate too, and that I had recruited him for my crew, he decided it was time to leave."

* * *

_Twenty Eight Months Ago..._

_Day One_

_Luffy pouted as his Grandfather carried him by the collar of his shirt, literally forcing him to get off the boat. As they hit sand, Luffy, not for the first time, began to whine about his situation. "Why are we here Gramps? You're supposed to be training me, not dragging me on a ride around the sea."_

_"Luffy, it's time you see just what we Marines make possible. Fusha is peaceful because Goa City attracts all the riff raff, here however, it's the Marines that keep it peaceful and danger free. You won't find any bandits nor pirates here, only happy and content people."_

_Those words didn't cause Luffy's pout to dissipate in the slightest._

_"Besides, what about your sense of adventure? I figured you'd be running all over the place by now."_

_The rubber fourteen year old's pout got worse at that. "I do...but, I wanna wait until I've got Nami and Zoro with me before I go on adventures. They're my best friends, they should be here with me."_

_"You know, you three could always join the Marines. I could guarantee you'd be placed in the same unit, and you'd still get to go on adventures together."_

_"No way! I'm gonna be the Pirate King, not the Marine King! Most importantly, we wanna be free! And marines aren't free like pirates are!" He was dropped on his ass after that last remark, as Garp didn't take too kindly to it._

_"Damn stubborn brat!"_

_Luffy shot up into a sitting position, as he shot back, "Stubborn old bastard!"_

_"You're going to be a marine, a damn fine one at that, whether you like it or not!"_

_"Never! I'm a pirate through and through! You can't make me!"_

_"I'm your grandfather, I can damn well make you!"_

_"Oh yeah!? Well-" The raven haired child then proceeded to blow a raspberry at his guardian._

_"Insolent little-"_

_Seeing his chance, Luffy tumbled forward, going through the space between his legs, and jumped to his feet, speeding away from his elder caretaker as fast as he could. "See ya Gramps!"_

_Rather than moving to chase after him, Garp just stood there, a smirk crossing his face at his grandson's actions. "He's as stubborn as his father, and twice as unruly. There isn't the slightest chance he'll become a marine, not anymore." The marine hero sighed then, his grin falling away at the thought he just had. "Oh well, guess I'd better make the best of the time we have left then."_

_His mind wandered then, and as it did, one thing came to mind, "I need some donuts." And with that, he was off to the first bakery he could find._

* * *

_After several seconds of booking it, the rubber kid dared to look back, only to find his grandfather was nowhere in sight. "Huh, must have given him the slip." Thinking better of the situation, he came to a different conclusion. "Actually, he probably just decided he wanted some donuts. He's not chasing me anymore, so whatever."_

_As Luffy got off the shore and up onto the grass, he began to look around, not sure where to go. Before he could decide on a direction, someone caught his attention._

_"I am the brave Captain Usopp, of the Usopp Pirates! State your business traveler!" This was called out by a boy around the same age as Luffy, who was standing on one of the higher branches in a tree._

_The straw hat wearing teen's eyes were on this person after he called this out. And upon hearing that name, a gleam of recognition shown in his eyes. "So that's Usopp." He thought to himself._

_He grinned then, before responding, "You're a pirate huh? Cause I'm training to become a strong one."_

_"You doubt me!? I'll have you know eighty million men serve under my command! Quake in fear of our might!"_

_"Whoa, really!? Eighty million!? That's so cool!" Luffy's face was lit up like a Christmas tree at this point._

_"Heh heh! Now you recognize my greatness."_

_"Well, well, where are they!?" He asked excitedly._

_"Eh?" The long nosed teen began to sweat at that, no real clue how to answer that question and not get caught in a lie._

_"Where are they? You know, your eighty million men? I wanna meet'em!"_

_"You do huh? Heh, well, uh, you...you can't."_

_"Huh? Why not?" He asked confused._

_"Well...uh, cause...be-because, they-they're, uh, they're...away on...supply runs!" After stuttering through to an excuse, Usopp pulled his act together, excited he came up with another lie to cover up the hole in his previous lie. "__Yeah, that's it! You can't meet them because they're all out on supply runs!"_

_"What? All of them?" The rubber teen tilted his head to the side, something those close to him had seen many times, as he dealt with this perplexing situation. "But that doesn't make any sense."_

_Beginning to sweat in nervousness once more, Usopp tried to think up another lie to placate the young teen, he took too long to do so though._

_His head returning to it's normal position, Luffy's face once more had the smile he was known for almost always having, as he figured out. "Oh, now I know. You're lying."_

_"Duh, I, uh..."_

_Before he could even come up with the words to explain himself, the straw hat teen shot his arm up to the branch he was currently standing on, grasping ahold of it. As the long nosed kid realized this, his eyes widened and he cried out, as he fell back in surprise, falling right out of the tree and straight to the ground ten feet below, hitting it with a slight thud._

_Seeing as he no longer needed to go up to the guy, Luffy let go of the branch and let his arm snap back to it's original length, and then made his way to the now moaning in pain teen._

_Usopp scrambled up and back until his back hit a tree as Luffy came closer to him, too shocked and scared to even register the pain he was still in. "W-what a-are y-you!?"_

_Luffy stopped then, "Me?" and proceeded to fish hook himself, stretching out his right cheek farther than was humanly possible. "I'm Luffy, a Rubber Man."_

_Still physically shaking from what he had seen, the long nosed teen stuttered once more. "A-a-a r-rub-rubber m-man?"_

_"Yeah. I ate a devil fruit, the Gum Gum Fruit, and now I'm made of rubber."_

_"A d-devil fruit? You mean they actually exist?" He asked, unbelieving of the person before him._

_"Of course they do! I mean if they didn't, then how else would I be able to do this?" The raven haired fourteen year old questioned, making it sound like the one who asked him this was being stupid, as he stretched his cheek even farther, doubling the length from before, and proceeding to let go, causing his skin to snap back into place._

_Squeaking a bit in surprise, Usopp began preparing to make a run for it, his eyes frantically searching about for an escape route, too scared to think straight as he did._

_Now registering the fear on the other teen's face, a frown marred Luffy's face. "You aren't going to run away now are you?"_

_"W-what?" Even as he asked this, his eyes continued to dart to and fro, thinking of a way to get away._

_His frown grew deeper as he explained. "Back when I first got this power, I tried to show it to the kids in my village. They already didn't like me, but I was hoping this'd change their minds and make them wanna be my friends. But when they saw what I could do, they got all scared and mad. Most of them ran away, and the ones who didn't got really mean when I tried to calm them down, calling me names like monster, demon and devil."_

_That certainly got the other kid's attention, his eyes no long searching about, but now locked onto this stranger._

_"You're scared of me too, just like they were." That wasn't a question anymore. "You're gonna run away too, aren't you?" Besides the frown he wore, there were no signs of emotion on his face. His eyes though, they showed it hurt to find someone else who thought of him as a freak._

_Though he was no longer shaking, Usopp still wasn't sure what to do, as it was true he was scared of the boy before him. Since that was the case, seeing the hurt in the other boy's eyes caused shame to fill him. He hung his head as he said, "I am scared of you. Sorry."_

_"That's okay."_

_Usopp's head shot up at those words, to see Luffy was smiling at him. "I promise to stay away from you, that way you won't be scared alright?" The straw hat boy's hand was on his shoulder for comfort at that point. "It was nice meeting you Usopp."_

_With that he removed his hand from the long nosed boy's shoulder, turned around and began walking away. As he took step after step, Usopp could only stare at his back in shock, his mouth partially open because of just how taken back he was. "That guy...he's so tough. How can he smile like that after what he just told me? After what I just did to him? Unlike me, he's a real man." Tears began to prickle at the corners of his eyes as he thought this to himself._

_Before the straw hat wearing boy could get too far, Usopp managed to strengthen his resolve, and called out. "Wait Luffy!"_

_He stopped moving then, but neither did he turn around. "Don't go. I'm sorry, so sorry that I'm scared of you. But even though I'm afraid, I...I still want to be your friend!"_

_Luffy turned around to face the other boy once more, revealing tears were close to falling from his eyes too. "You really mean that?" He sounded hopeful._

_"I do." Usopp affirmed, nodding his head as he did._

_The rubber fourteen year old began walking back over to him then, his tears beginning to fall as he did. Once he reached the long nosed teen, he hugged him and said, "Thank you."_

_Usopp was caught off guard at this, unsure of why he'd thank him after what had just occurred, but returned the hug nevertheless, after a few seconds of the situation sinking in that is._

_Little could he know that young Luffy had been yearning for the presence of his two best friends, Nami and Zoro, and that with Ace having set out on his own adventure a few days ago, and Garp only being around so often, the loneliness he had been feeling threatened to return to soul crushing levels and consume him._

* * *

_Day 2_

_"WHAT!?"_

_Luffy was now looking at his long nosed friend with a bit of worry, as he asked, "What's wrong?"_

_"You mean to tell me you know my father!?" Usopp was standing as he asked this, loudly._

_The straw hat boy seemed a little confused at this point. "Well, yeah."_

_"And you didn't bother to tell me, because!?"_

_The rubber teen's eyes widened a bit, understanding coming to him. "Oh yeah, I forgot." _

_He said it so simply, as if it was no big deal, which only caused the slightly older boy to become even more exasperated._ _"YOU FORGOT!? HOW COULD YOU FORGET ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?"_

_His response was to merely shrug his shoulders. "I just did." Seeing that his words weren't helping, and understanding his new friend was upset about this, he then proceeded to apologize. "I'm sorry Usopp."_

_Usopp couldn't help but deflate at Luffy's sincerity, becoming almost noodle like as he wiggled about for a moment before hitting the ground knees first, sighing as he did so, hanging his head while replying. "It's alright Luffy."_

_Still feeling bad about not telling his friend about meeting his father, he spoke once more. "Would you like me to tell you about him?"_

_Usopp's head shot up then, turning to look at his raven haired friend, his face lighting up just as Luffy's had done the day before. "YES! Yes, of course! Tell me everything!"_

* * *

_Day 4_

_"Why can't we just go through the front?"_

_"Shhh!" Usopp hushed his friend, before placing the piece of shrub back where it once was, covering up the secret way into the yard. After doing that, he turned back to Luffy, and explained exactly why they couldn't go in through the front. "I already told you, because of the new butler! He's a real jerk, and won't let me visit Kaya, no matter how nicely I ask him or how much I beg him. He only started a few days ago, but it's like he already owns the place! It's just not fair!"_

_Luffy didn't respond, instead opting to let his friend rant instead. "Just wait until Kaya's parents get back from their trip, then I'll be able to waltz right in, and he won't be able to say a damn thing about it! Man, I can't wait to see the look on his face when that happens!"_

_Usopp's rant ended there, as they came to a tree, and proceeded to climb it. Once they reached a certain branch, they climbed onto it, both taking a seat on it. The month older of the two then lightly rapped on the second story window the branch allowed them to face, getting the person in there's attention, but not making enough noise to alert anyone else inside the small mansion._

_The two boys didn't have to wait long before the window was opened, revealing a simple, but spacious room, which in resided a young girl around their age. She had mid neck length blonde hair and light brown eyes, she was slim and a bit too pale for her own good. Nevertheless, she looked quite happy to see them, or rather the one of them that had a long nose. "Hey there Usopp, it's so good to see you! It's been a few days."_

_Taking notice of the other boy on the branch, she asked, "Who is this Usopp?"_

_"Oh, him? He's the newest member of my crew, his nam-" He was cut off by Luffy's fist slamming onto the top of his noggin, causing him to squeak in pain. "How many times do I have to tell you!? You're a part of my crew, I'm the captain Usopp, not you!" By the way he vehemently exclaimed this, it was obvious this kind of thing happened a lot._

_Rather than retaliate, Usopp covered his friend's mouth, that way he couldn't say anything further, and then went on to whisper something, so as to hopefully get the month younger boy to stop struggling. "Come on Luffy, not in front of Kaya..." He fought back tears caused by physical pain as he spoke to his friend, not wanting to shed any in front of the girl._

_Luffy's eyes narrowed slightly, before he sighed into Usopp's hand and ceased struggling, even though he had only been a moment from breaking away from the long nosed boy's grasp._

_Certain his friend wouldn't do something like that again, Usopp pulled his hand away, turned back to Kaya and spoke once more. "As I was saying, his name's Luffy."_

_The blonde girl was giggling at their antics up until that point, stopping to politely greet the straw hat boy. "It's very nice to meet you Luffy. My name is Kaya."_

_Luffy smiled in return, just as she did, before returning her greeting. "It's nice to meet you too!"_

_"Did you come to tell me stories too?"_

_"Stories?" The rubber boy repeated, a little confused._

_"I-I think you mean tales of our past adventures."_

_"Sure Usopp." She said, humoring the boy out of admiration for him._

_Luffy understood then. "Oh, so you tell her lies."_

_"Hey! They're tales of past adventures, not lies! Besides, regardless of what they are, I tell them to Kaya to cheer her up and make her happy, so there."_

_The blonde's smile grew at those words._

_"Is that so? Do you guys wanna hear some of my adventures then?" Luffy asked them._

_Both looked at him, before agreeing in unison._

_They were surprised by his tales, to say the least._

* * *

_Day 7_

_"LUFFY!"_

_Luffy's eyes widened a considerable amount at the sound of that voice, shooting to his feet as it reached his ears. "Oh Crap! It's Gramps!" He began looking all about searching for the aged marine then, not spotting him, he prepared to book it. "We gotta get the hell out of here!"_

_"Come on Luffy, he can't be that bad." Usopp said, brushing off the dire seriousness of the situation._

_The straw hat teen stopped and just stared at his long nosed friend after he said such a thing. "You have no idea." His eyes were wide, and almost dead as he said this, the tone of his voice being one of who's experienced extreme trauma. It honestly freaked the slightly older boy out._

_That's when Garp entered the small clearing the two boys were in. "There you are!" Luffy and Usopp both yelled out in fear upon his arrival, the former because he knew what was to come, the latter because the former had freaked him out._

_As he began to approach, the straw hat boy took a few shaky steps back. "W-wait Gramps, I-"_

_"So this is where you've been hiding huh? With this kid? Either he's better than most marines I know when it comes to sneaking about, or more likely, you've been using what I taught you to hide from me. Regardless, there'll be no more ducking me Luffy."_

_Usopp was shaking at this point, as he could see the anger clearly, as well as the intent. This wasn't going to be pretty._

_Finally reaching his grandson, the elderly marine spoke once more. "Do you've anything to say for yourself?"_

_Luffy looked like he wanted to cower away from the old man, however, there was a gleam in his eye, as he remembered what he had been through and the promises he had made, and his whole demeanor changed. He stood up straight, looked up into his grandfather's eyes, and proceeded to say, "Yeah, I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it!"_

_With that said, he turned and tried to hoof it on out of there. Unfortunately for him, Garp was faster, grabbing ahold of him by the back of his collar, and pulling him back. "What was that you brat!?"_

_From there, Usopp bore witness to one of the worst beatdowns Luffy would ever __receive in his lifetime. And from then on, he would forever understand why his slightly younger friend was so afraid of his grandfather._

* * *

_About an hour later..._

_Luffy, who was covered in bruises and a bit of dried blood, took a quick look back at his grandfather, who was in the boat waiting for him. Looking away, he turned back to Usopp, before giving him a hug. "I've gotta go now, otherwise Gramps'll kick my ass again."_

_"Right, I understand Luffy."_

_"It was great meeting you. I'm glad to have you as a friend."_

_"I'm happy we became friends too Luffy."_

_As the hug ended, Luffy took another look back, before returning his eyes to Usopp. "I'll be back to pick you up in about two years, alright?"_

_"Got it, Captain." The long nosed teen smiled at his friend then._

_The straw hat teen returned the smile, glad he had finally gotten Usopp to call him captain._

_Unfortunately, he had to go now, as his gramps had only given him a minute to say his farewells, so the two said goodbye, and Luffy returned to the boat. From there, they set out for their next destination._

* * *

"I see, and you two haven't seen each other since?" Nami asked.

"Nope." Luffy and Usopp replied in unison.

"I'm guessing our home islands weren't on your grandpa's list of places to go?" Zoro inquired, even though he knew the answer.

"Yeah, like Gramps was gonna let me see the two people who promised to become pirates with me." Luffy said with a chuckle.

Silence settled then, as three of them knew one of them didn't plan to stay long. In an effort to get rid of those depressing thoughts, Luffy spoke up once more. "So Usopp, we need a ship before we set out. The one we arrived on isn't ours, it belongs to someone else. Do you think Kaya could help us out?"

"Oh, uh, well...I mean, she might be able to help. I suppose it couldn't hurt to ask. No guarantee's though, so don't push her too hard if she can't, okay Luffy?"

The straw hat teen's smile returned then. "You got it Usopp."

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	16. Usopp's Determination

Johnny Spectre: Well I'm glad you like it. :)

Tonlor: Maybe they do, maybe they don't, that's all I'll say for now. As for Kuro, well...you'll see soon enough.

F-ckthesystem125: Thanks, and indeed he does.

Slight warning before you guys start the next chapter. This story is rated M for a reason. The subject matter will be, at times, of a darker nature. Not to mention language and depictions of violence, which I make as graphic as I possibly can. So...you'll get a taste of such things in this chapter, as well as the next chapter. I'm only telling you guys so you know to be prepared for slightly more mature themes when it comes to dialogue. In other words, covering my ass as much as possible. XD

With that said, onto the next chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Luffy finished the last of the food on the table as Usopp went to pay their bill, and as he did, three boys burst into the restaurant, exclaiming in unison, "The Usopp Pirates have arrived!"

They all appeared to be about roughly eight or nine, as for their individual appearances...

The first boy had freckles and short spiky light purple hair that covered his eyes. He wore what appeared to be a red hat with Usopp's jolly roger on it, though a hole was at the top, allowing some of his hair to stick out of it, a black hoodie, light orange pants and dark brown shoes.

The second boy had dark green hair in a peculiar style. He wore a light green, short sleeve shirt with the Usopp's jolly roger on the front, as well as dark blue pants, a light blue sash and black shoes with laces.

The third boy had straight brown hair with a tuft sticking up at the top, and smaller than average eyes. He wore square glasses, a yellow shirt with a blue vest jacket over it, dark brown pants and a dark yellow sash, as well as black shoes with buckles.

"Captain Usopp is gone." One of them stated, not realizing he was at the end of the restaurant.

The three rushed over to the table Luffy, Zoro and Nami sat at, another one of them speaking up then, "Fess up you jerks, what have you done with our beloved Captain, tell us now!"

"Yeah, tell us now!" The other two repeated together.

Luffy was all but ignoring the three as he leaned back and patted his somewhat bloated stomach, "That meat sure was good." a smile on his face as he did.

"What meat?" One of them inquired worriedly.

"Could these guys be cannibals?" Another asked fearfully.

"What have you done, you savages?" The third questioned, as he and his two friends began to tremble in nervousness and fright.

Zoro put his elbow on the table and rested his head against his hand just the right way, so as to cast a slight shadowing effect across part of his face, as he smiled wickedly at the children. "If you're looking for your captain, we ate him." His tone was playfully dark as he said this, though only Luffy and Nami could distinguish the playfulness of it.

The children proceeded to scream in fear, though as they did, their eyes drifted to Nami, as they cried out, "AHHH, CANNIBALS!"

Nami didn't take too kindly to this, the shark teeth neither of her childhood friends had seen in a long time reappearing as she shouted angrily, "What the hell are you punks looking at me for!?"

Seeing something like that caused the three kids to nearly faint, as they fell back and hit the floor, screaming still. And as they did, Luffy and Zoro burst into laughter.

"You just had to say something stupid didn't you!?" Nami was ignored as the two continued to laugh rowdily.

That's when Usopp came back over, "Why are you guys laughing? Wait, what the? Onion, Pepper, Carrot, what are you three doing on the floor?"

"You're alive!?"

* * *

Luffy walked step for step with Usopp, as Zoro and Nami followed along, the four heading towards the mansion Kaya resided in.

"You got them good! But, uh, did you guys really have to say that you ate me?" The long nosed teen asked his friends.

"I didn't even say anything and those brats pointed the finger at me!" Nami shouted. "I mean, do I look like a cannibal to you!?" No one dared to answer that question.

Luffy just proceeded to begin laughing once more, while Zoro smirked in response.

"Heh, I'm a-I'm guessing that's a yes."

After a few moments, the straw hat pirate's laughter tapered off, and as it did, he spoke up. "Those kids, were you guys friends when we met?"

"Well, yeah, we were. We had formed the Usopp Pirates about a week before you and I met actually."

"How come I never got to meet'em? They seem like fun! I would have liked to play too."

Usopp scratched the side of his head with his index finger, chuckling a little nervously as he did, "To be honest, with how serious you were about being a pirate and how determined you were to get stronger, I honestly thought you wouldn't be interested in a bunch of pranks, let alone actually playing pirate."

The rubber man's smile had fallen away, but no expression replaced it, as he listened to his friend go on. "And...I-I didn't want them to know I had agreed to become a part of someone else's crew. My pride wouldn't let me admit to being someone else's subordinate to myself, let alone-"

As Luffy opened his mouth to correct his curly haired friend, said friend beat him to it, "I know, you don't have subordinates, you have crewmates, friends. But I didn't realize you really, truly meant that until it was time for you to go."

Usopp stopped talking for a moment, as he gathered himself. Once he did, a smile crossed his face. "I'm past that though, which is why I told them everything before I sent them on their way. They reacted better than I thought they would to be honest. I half thought they would think I was going crazy when I told them I would be setting out soon to be a real pirate, one under someone else's flag no less."

"I see..." Luffy didn't react any further than those three words for several moments, before a smile crossed his face once more. "Well, okay then."

While his captain brushed the matter off without a second thought, Zoro would remember this, as while he trusted his friend, his brother, in who he picked for the crew, that didn't mean he could trust the people themselves. This was for one two simple reasons, first, Luffy was a very forgiving person, almost too forgiving. You could spit in his face, insult his dream and then proceed to physically assault him, and as long as you said you were sorry, if he thought you were being sincere about it, then he'd forgive you and even try to be your friend. And second, he was far too trusting. That one was self explanatory.

Though it wasn't like Usopp posed any real physical threat, nor did he seem like the type to double cross them, no, rather it was the fact that he might take issue with Luffy's authority somewhere down the line that had Zoro thinking on such a matter.

No more thinking on such a subject could continue however, as the four began coming up on the gate leading to the mansion. Before they could get too close, Usopp and Luffy led the other two to the secret way into the yard, removing the piece of cut out shrub, allowing them to crawl through, before placing it back into the empty space it usually filled.

When they turned around to face the mansion, they found the three boys from earlier waiting for them, nearly startling Usopp. "What the? Why are you three here!?" He whisper asked harshly.

The one known as Carrot was the one to answer. "We know that you'll be leaving soon, so, before the Usopp Pirates disband, we've decided to spend as much time together as a crew as possible."

"Now really isn't the time guys." Usopp whispered more calmly this time.

"It's fine."

All three boys and Usopp looked to Luffy, who had just said that. "You guys are friends, you should enjoy your time together as much as you can before you guys have to part ways."

Knowing they'd end up getting caught if he tried to argue with Luffy, the marksman gave up and let it be.

With that settled, Usopp did what he did almost every day, and that was climb the tree leading to Kaya's bedroom window, the other six staying on the ground as he did. Once he was up and sitting on the correct branch, he knocked as lightly as he could on the window, doing his best to keep from attracting any unwanted attention.

Though the tapping on the glass could barely be heard, it wasn't more than a few moments before the window was being opened, upon it doing so revealing an older Kaya. She was much paler than Luffy remembered, though she did look just as cheery. Her hair had grown out too, it now being just past the bottom of her neck in length. As for what she wore, a simple white dress. "Usopp, I'm so glad you're here. I wanted to see you."

Chuckling nervously, Usopp tried his best to respond without tripping over his words. "I-I wanted to see you too. How are you doing today Kaya?"

"I'm doing fine, no need to worry about me." She sincerely meant it, but all of them could tell she was sick, seriously sick.

Usopp was lost for words for a few moments then, only because he noticed something that concerned him. "She looks so much worse than she did yesterday. How is that even possible?"

"Usopp?"

Kaya's voice managed to shake him from his thoughts, so he could speak. "Oh yeah, guess who's here on Gecko Island?"

"Who?" She asked, her smile not waning a bit.

Not waiting for an introduction, Luffy stretched his right arm up until he had ahold of the branch his long nosed friend sat on, before letting himself snap towards it, though he slowed at the last second and managed to land almost gracefully on the branch, right next to his slightly older pal. "Hiya Kaya!"

Her smile got just a bit brighter then. "Luffy, it's so great to see you again. When did you arrive?"

"A few hours ago. I'm here to pick up Usopp." That statement was partly true, he had planned to go and pick up Usopp from Syrup Village right after he found a boat.

"I see. So...when will you and Usopp be setting out then?" The sadness was clear in her eyes as she said this, she didn't want the curly haired teen to leave. However, at the same time, the smile she was wearing was still genuine, she must have been happy for him.

"Well, uh, actually, that's kind of why we're here. We have a favor to ask of you." Usopp said nervously.

"A favor?"

Not one to beat around the bush, Luffy just came right out with it. "Do you think you could help us get a ship?"

"A ship?" She blinked in surprise at the question.

"Yeah, think you could help us out?" Luffy asked once more.

The blonde girl seemed to think it over for a few moments, before replying, her smile widening a bit as she did. "I think I have just the ship for you."

"That's great!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Kaya, I have some people I want you to meet."

"People to meet? Who..." She looked out and down, to see the three boys she knew by name that hung out with Usopp, as well as two others, a young orange haired woman and a somewhat older than the rest of them green haired man. "...wait. Are those two who I think they are?"

Luffy's smile widened a good deal at that. "Yep, they sure are." He looked down at them then, as he called out, "Nami! Zoro! Come up and say hi you guys!"

Usopp proceeded to smack the back of Luffy's head for getting so loud. "We're supposed to be quiet ya know!"

Before he could respond, another voice was heard. "You there! Just what do you think you're doing here?"

All eyes went to the one who said that, to see Klahadore calmly walking over to the five below, though his eyes were on the two above with Kaya.

"It's Klah-guy." Luffy said to himself, shocking both Usopp and Kaya a bit, for as far as they knew, the two had never met

Luffy hopped down, landing on his feet as he greeted the butler. "Hey there."

The butler did not look happy, that was for sure. "You didn't answer my question. Just what do you think you're doing here? Here, in my Mistress's yard!?"

Luffy, Zoro and Nami all seemed a tad confused by his tone and demeanor, as it was quite different from the man they had met.

"Klahadore, calm down, it's okay, they're my fri-"

"Get out! You're trespassing on private property!" He adjusted his glasses as he spoke these words, his anger evident even as he did.

Nami tried to reason with the guy. "Hey, what's your problem? Didn't you bring us here-"

"I said get out! This is no place for filthy pirates like you!"

"Quite the tune you're playing, even more so when considering the one you played earlier." Zoro remarked.

The butler's eyes narrowed at that comment.

"Klahadore they're just asking me for a fav-"

"Quiet Mrs. Kaya."

Usopp was down on ground level once more, having climbed down the tree, and took enough steps forward that he was almost in the older man's face. "This isn't your property, and neither is she! You can't tell her what to do!" The long nosed teen's anger was evident, as he was near screaming in the other man's face, it was clear this wasn't the first time he had seen something like this.

"What a loudmouth. I'm sure it's safe to assume you got that, as well as your temper, from that despicable pirate father of yours." Klahadore then looked over to the other six on ground level, keeping his eyes only on the three teens for longer than a moment or so, before continuing. "And it seems you follow in his footsteps, joining up with your own band of criminals."

Usopp clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, as he tried to repress all the anger he was currently feeling. It was a losing battle however, as the butler just continued to make it worse. "Is it money you scum are after? Is that why you're here? How much do you want?"

That seemed to even upset Kaya, "Cease this at once and apologize to these people Klahadore!"

"I don't believe there is any reason to apologize to these savages my lady. My goal isn't to slander, I only speak the truth. Pirates are wretched, insufferable beings, and I do not wish for them to be anywhere near you Mistress, lest they corrupt you, or even worse, harm you in any way." He was adjusting his glasses once more at this point.

"How dare you!" Usopp couldn't contain it any longer and lashed out, hitting Klahadore with as strong as a right straight as he could, knocking the butler to the ground.

Kaya couldn't help but gasp.

"Captain!" The three children called out in shock.

Klahadore was still conscious, and didn't seem very, if at all, hurt by the blow, as he spoke once more. "Case in point, he resorts to violence. I guess the apple never falls far from the tree."

"Shut up! This has nothing to do with my father! I'm proud of my heritage, and will never lie about it! I am the son of a pirate and damn proud of it! No, this is about how you dared to insinuate I would hurt Kaya!"

Klahadore got to his feet then. "Insinuate? Big word for a pirate. But yes, I know for a fact you'll hurt the young lady. She is kind and gentle, you however, are nothing but a brute. I've seen how you talk to her, act around her, how you charm her with your lies. You're either trying to cozy up to her so you can steal her fortune, or even worse...your attraction to her is real and your trying to lure her into a false sense of security, so that she'll drop her guard. And I fear for her, as I know what you'll do when she does drop her guard, you'll take her maidenhood through force, like the filthy scum you are."

"KLAHADORE!"

Usopp's eyes widened to the max as those words echoed in his mind, and from there...he lost it. "You fucking bastard!"

He proceeded to tackle the butler to the ground, knocking his glasses off in the process, before beginning to wail on his face with his fists, hitting him with everything he had in each individual punch.

Onion, Pepper and Carrot were completely speechless, frozen in their spots as they watched this happen.

Luffy and Zoro made no move to stop Usopp, in fact, their eyes were hard, showing they thought this bastard deserved as much. Nami on the other hand, looked ready to pull the long nosed teen off the butler, as whether he deserved it or not, it was upsetting Kaya, and the children didn't need to see this.

"Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it! STOP IT! No more violence, PLEASE!" Kaya was crying as she desperately screamed this at Usopp.

Another person came out of the mansion then, said person appearing to be a butler, two guards following behind him.

He had white curly hair with lamb horns sticking out, and wore a plain suit, nothing else about him really stuck out other than that. "Mrs. Kaya, what's wrong!?"

That's when he saw Usopp beating Klahadore's face in, his eyes widening in shock at the sight. "Usopp! Guards, Stop him!"

The two guards moved forward to do just that, however, seeing this about to happen, Nami pulled Usopp off of Klahadore, and Luffy grabbed ahold of the two, plus Carrot, Pepper and Onion, stretching his arms to wrap them all up and bring them close to him, before leaping over the fence that kept normal people out, and hoofing it away from the mansion, Zoro following behind him the whole way, making sure no one followed them as he did.

* * *

Luffy didn't stop until they were deep in the forest near the shore, where he first met Usopp at. Once Zoro assured him no one was following them, he put the other five down, three of whom, the children, sat down, almost falling down as they did, not fully sure of what had just happened, clearly in shock.

Usopp fell to his knees, tears prickling at the edge of his eyes, as he fought them back to keep them from falling. Seeing his friend in need, Luffy had Nami go and talk with the kids, not only to explain a few things, but hopefully explain away a few things as well, as they didn't need to understand everything that had just occurred. Zoro was to watch out for anyone who might happen upon them, he knew that was what he was to do without Luffy even glancing at him.

The straw hat teen came up behind his long nosed friend, placing his hand on his shoulder to try and offer some form of comfort, as he spoke to him. "Something's not right with that Klah-guy, we both know that. Nevertheless, what he said to you...I can't imagine how much it must have pissed you off. It's not something you can let go of, not for a while to come at least, I know that. But, you're going to have to put it aside, for Kaya's sake. If you don't, things are gonna be a lot harder moving forward."

Usopp remained silent, unsure of what to say, what to do. He was so very angry, but he was also upset, he wanted to apologize to Kaya for upsetting her, but he also wanted to pound on Klahadore until he was nothing but a bloody mess. But what could he do? He was weak, no one would want to help him, he was the village liar. They wouldn't believe a word he said, whether it was about how bad Klahadore really was, or about how Kaya just kept getting sicker, no matter what medicines she took, and that something wasn't right with that. "What do I do?" He wondered to himself.

Luffy tightened his grip on Usopp's shoulder slightly, and proceeded to answer the unasked question. "Trust in me, as your captain and as your friend, if you can do that, then I promise I won't let you down. You don't have to do this by yourself, I'm here to help you." He looked back at Zoro and Nami then, before returning his attention to his kneeling friend. "All three of us are."

At those words, the memories of the week the straw hat teen spent here with the long nosed teen passed through the latter's mind. This caused Usopp's eyes to widen in realization that Luffy was right. Coming to grips with this, he rose to his feet after his captain let go of his shoulder, turning around after doing so to reveal tears streaming down his face. "Luffy..."

"Yeah?"

"...thank you."

He grinned at that. "No problem."

His grin soon fell away however, as a image of how Kaya looked back at the mansion flashed in his mind, causing a thought to come to him. "Hey Usopp...Kaya, she seemed a lot sicker than she was when I was last here."

"That's because she is." He answered somberly.

"And she's been getting sicker for a long time now, right?" He inquired further.

The long nosed sniper lowered his head at that, "Yeah, she has. At first it wasn't too bad, in fact I'm not even sure she was actually ill, or at least not ill in the usual sense. I think she might have been depressed, not to mention lonely, but nevertheless, I think she would have been able to kick it in a few months time, what with a bit of sunshine and companionship. But then...her parents died in an accident at sea, and she took a turn for the worse. Ever since then, her condition's been steadily worsening. I've done everything I could think of to try and help her, Merry, that other butler you saw, has given her every medicine in the East Blue that treated illnesses with even remotely similar symptoms to what's plaguing her, but nothing works. She'd seem to be getting better for a few days, but would then return to her sickly state. It's happened so much that just about everyone has all but given up hope that she'll recover. They say she no longer has the will to live, and that that's why she can't get better."

Usopp began to clench his fists, just as he squeezed his eyes shut tighter, and his voice became more heated. "But I refuse to believe that! They don't see the way she smiles, the way she laughs, they don't hear the passion she has when talking about fulfilling her dream to become a doctor, they don't know just how strong her will to live is!" You could hear just how much he cared about this girl from the tone of his voice. It was obvious he cared for her greatly.

"Klah-guy, he's that butler you told me about when we first met, isn't he? The one who wouldn't let you visit Kaya?" The rubber man asked, said question seemingly voming out of nowhere.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Usopp asked, looking back up now, his eyes open once more, revealing the fresh tears.

Luffy's eyes narrowed slightly, as he thought about what he knew. He had a feeling something was up, however when it came to forming a hypothesis, the odds were stacked against him, as the last time he sat down to think critically about something, beads of sweat formed and slid down his face in mass quantities. In fact, the harder he thought, the more he sweat, and before too long, his face would turn red from all the mental exertion. He would prefer not to go through something like that again. He only thought about food, friends and adventure, that was how he was. But, thanks to Bellemere, he could come up with solutions to simple problems without much effort on his part. Conspiracy theories and even just complicated situations, that he couldn't solve with his fists, on the other hand, gave him pause. The thing was, Usopp was his friend, and he would do anything for his friends, even if it meant thinking until he had a migraine.

So he closed his eyes and began to think. This lasted for several long moments, surprisingly without incident, no sweat or redness, before he opened his eyes once more. "Something's not right here Usopp, I can't put my finger on it, but I'm certain it has something to do with that Klah-guy."

The long nosed teen nodded in agreement. "I've had a bad feeling about the guy since the day I met him."

"I can't figure out what's going on with him, but I bet if we follow the guy we'll learn something that could help us put it all together." Luffy stated, which let the others know that was exactly what they were going to do.

* * *

Seeing as the kids hadn't went home the last time they were told to, the four teens decided to escort them to the village, that way they knew they were home and wouldn't follow them.

On the way down the dirt path leading to the village however, they came upon a strange sight. It was a man walking backwards, coming towards them. Upon seeing this, all three children commented, "What a weirdo."

Once this man was a little closer, he turned to face them and asked, "Now which one of you people has the nerve to call me weird?" In doing so revealing his full appearance.

He had greyish blonde hair that just reached past the bottom of his neck, not to mention his much more distinguishing feature, a black and purple striped...thing attached to his chin. As for what he wore, he sported a blue trench coat over a white shirt, a big blue hat to match the coat and greenish brown gloves. As well as light brown pants, a black belt to hold them up, black shoes and long white socks, plus red lensed heart shaped glasses.

"I'm just a regular guy." The strange man said.

"Really? Because you look ridiculous, some might even say insane." Nami responded.

"Don't be silly. I'm just your ordinary run of the mill hypnotist."

"Hypnotist? Show us something! Show us something!" Onion, Pepper and Carrot near demanded in unison.

His demeanor became much more serious as he replied to that. "What? You fools, what makes you think that I would want to reveal my masterful hypnosis techniques to a bunch of roadside strangers?"

Only a split second later and he had a metal ring the size of a palm dangling from a chain out, as he spoke once more, his tone back to what it was before. "Okay, you've convinced me." Though they did no such thing.

Before the man could actually do anything however, Usopp and Nami began ushering the kids along, Luffy and Zoro following along as well. "That's great and all, but we've got things to do." Nami explained.

"Yeah, and before we can do those things, we gotta get these three home. Right away too or we'll be in hot water." Usopp added.

"Can we take a rain check?" Luffy turned around and asked, a smile on his face.

"Come on Luffy!" Nami and Usopp called out together.

"Coming!" Turning back around, the straw hat teen followed after his friends.

Before he got too far though, he looked back at the strange guy one more time, and asked him, "Oh yeah, what's your name?"

"You can call me Jango."

"Nice to meet you Jango, see ya!"

* * *

It turned out luck was in their favor, as when they came back down the road from taking the children home, they came upon that Jango guy, who was talking with Klahadore. Said butler had a few bandages on his face, obviously because of the beating Usopp had put on his face, but considering how hard he hit and how many times the glasses wearing man was hit, it was weird that he only had three bandages.

Forgetting about that, almost as soon as the four saw the two, they turned and began walking off, Jango actually walking the right way this time, not noticing them because they turned just as they came into sight.

Deciding to not let this go to waste, the four snuck after them, Nami doing her best to make sure Luffy and Zoro didn't trip up and ruin the plan by revealing their presence.

They managed to keep themselves hidden, following the two to the shore opposite of the one Luffy, Zoro and Nami arrived at, though to help keep themselves concealed, they stayed up on the cliffside with the trees, while the butler and the hypnotist went down to where the sand and water met.

"Why in the world are those two together?" Usopp questioned aloud.

"Good question." Zoro said.

"Klahadore doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could, or would, put up with that weirdo." Nami added.

"Maybe he wants to learn hypnotism?" Luffy offered.

"Doubtful." The other three replied in unison.

As the two below began to speak to each other, the four cut the chatter and listened closely...

"Jango, I specifically ordered you to keep yourself inconspicuous. Walking backwards like a buffoon defeats the purpose of that order."

"Relax man, I've perfected the skills of a chameleon, I blend in."

Nothing was said about that comment, the conversation continuing on as if that had been a valid excuse. "Right. Have all the necessary preparations been made?"

"But of course. We can start anytime...on the rich girl murder plan."

Luffy's, Nami's and Usopp's eyes all widened at that shocking statement.

"Don't call it murder Jango, I don't like the sound of it."

"Oh right, accident. It's an accident, that you planned."

"Yes, exactly. We can't simply kill her, it is critical to our plan that Mrs. Kaya perishes in an unfortunate accident, so don't screw that up.

Jango sat down on one of the larger rocks on the shore, placing his hands in his pockets as he did, relaxing basically, as he continued to discuss this murder plot. "So basically, on your signal, the men and I storm the village and manage to accidentally kill the little rich girl. Then you get her inheritance, and we all get paid, right?"

"You moron! Your ignorance is astounding! We're not related, so how can I inherit anything from her?"

"You'll work very hard to."

"No Jango, I won't. Now listen to me, this is the most important part, before you kill her, you'll use your hypnosis to make Kaya write her will, and it'll say 'I leave my entire fortune to my butler, Klahadore'." The dastardly butler took a few steps toward Jango then, leaning forward just a bit so he could make eye contact with him as his gaze hardened, "Then and only then will I have undisputed control of her enormous fortune...and no one will suspect a thing. I've spent almost three whole years gaining the trust of everyone around me, so that it would unsurprising for her to leave the entirety of her inheritance to me."

As Klahadore straightened his posture and took a few steps back from Jango, the latter stood up, as their talk continued. "All this time as a butler, for this huh? You sure had us scared back then, captain Kuro. Almost three years ago now, you suddenly said you were giving up life as a pirate. In no time at all you set up someone to be your double, then you let the world see 'captain Kuro' get executed. Only now do I understand that was just the beginning of this plan. You truly are the Man of a Thousand Plans."

"Never call me that again. I abandoned that name years ago. I now wish to attain my wealth without attracting the attention of the Government. In other words, I'm a pacifist."

Jango broke into a small fit of laughter at that. "Some pacifist you are. Murdering an entire family doesn't exactly qualify as peaceful."

The, recently revealed to be, Kuro adjusted his glasses as he responded to that remark. "It wasn't originally my intention to, however that girl's parents refused to forbid her from seeing that damn long nosed brat. I could barely restrain myself from killing them, if I had to deal with that punk all the time too, I'd have gutted him." Usopp squeaked in fear at that, thankfully the noise went unheard though. "It was bad enough having to run about with that damned girl, shopping with her, eating with her, laughing with her, waiting on her hand and foot, acting like I actually cared about her and liked to serve her, a little slice of hell all it's own, but I really might've snapped and ruined the plan if that stupid long nose had been with us all those times. I suppose I could have pretended to give in and let her see him after her condition began to continuously worsen, but I couldn't risk him hanging about and catching me contaminating her food."

"So that's why you had me meet with and pay that broker." Jango stated.

"Indeed. I was glad that when her parents were disposed of, I could have a break from visiting other islands with the girl, taking her where she wanted to go, shopping with her, holding her bags and just pretending to have a good time. I enjoyed the break so much, that I decided why not be done with such activities altogether? So using one of my contacts, I secured a poison, that when administered in small doses, weakens the victim's immune system, absolves most ingested nutrients and saps most of their strength in general. I had to be careful when giving her this of course, as too much would kill her, and that would raise too much suspicion. To make sure this didn't happen, I've been giving it to her once a week for a year and a half now, injecting it into her food, pouring it in her drink, doing anything it took to get it into her system. It's taken it's toll however, she's at her lowest, worse now than she's ever been. Given a few more weeks, she'll probably succumb to the poison. On top of that. she's fallen for that weasel Usopp, and now might as well hate me because of an incident at the mansion earlier today. I did my best to convince her I was only trying to protect her, but she's quite upset with me. If I apologized to the annoying pest, then it might get me back in her good graces. Thankfully however, all of that is irrelevant now, as the final stage of the plan will commence tomorrow, at dawn."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that Captain. Why'd you call us here so early? I thought we were to wait another four months. You never alter your plans, so why now?"

"Simple, I've found the perfect scapegoats."

"Who?"

"Three kids calling themselves pirates, you know the type, morons who play at being the real thing. I received word of them from the Mayor of Orange Town, he contacted me, thinking I could help them secure a boat for their voyage. Seeing an opportunity before me, I took it, and altered my plans accordingly. Now, when it's revealed that Mrs. Kaya was killed in her home by pirates, those three will take the fall for it, and all you have to do is make sure you're gone by the time the news breaks."

"Those bastard plan to pin the crime on us!" Nami whispered harshly.

Both of the men below shared sinister smirks then. "Understood."

Usopp was freaking out at this point, speaking aloud, though only to the point where the other three near him could hear. "What the hell!? I knew the guy was an asshole, but I never suspected this! This is bad, really really bad! What are we gonna do!? First they'll attack the village, then they'll kill Kaya! All for a bunch of stupid money! What do we do!? What do we do, what do we do, what do we do!?"

As Usopp freaked out, Luffy stood up and proceeded to yell down at the two, before the others could stop him, not that Zoro would have. "HEY DICKWADS!" Both Zoro and Nami both immediately knew that Ace was behind that bit of language. "If you dare hurt my friend Kaya, I'll kick your asses!"

The long nosed teen's eyes shot to his rubber friend then, as Nami asked incredulously, "What the hell are you doing Luffy!?"

Both men looked up at the cliff then, seeing the four, all of them standing at this point. "What are you guys doing here!?" Jango questioned.

"You've gotten yourself spotted idiot, we've got to go, now!" The sniper said, as he grabbed ahold of Luffy's arm and began trying to pull him away from the cliffside, to no avail of course.

"Well now, if it isn't my scapegoats. And with Usopp, the town liar no less. Judging by what you've just said, I'm guessing you've heard a few things. Though I wonder, just how much did you hear?"

"What, us!? We didn't hear anything, I swear!" Usopp tried to convince them.

"We heard all of it." Luffy stated bluntly, contradicting his long nosed friend's lie.

"Shut up!" Usopp said desperately, his voice filled with fear, his eyes wide with fright, as he smacked his straw hat wearing friend's chest.

Luffy fixed his month older friend with a small glare then. "Usopp, are you telling me you'd pretend to not have heard them and let them get away with their bad man plan to kill Kaya, just to save yourself?"

Said teen was taken back by that, "What!? Of course not!"

"Then don't."

The sharpshooter's eyes widened even further at that, realizing that his friend was, once again, right.

"Take care of them, but leave the swordsman and the straw hat one alive, we'll at least need them for the scapegoat part of the plan to work." Kuro order Jango, before proceeding to turn and begin walking away, apparently confident in the man's ability to deal with the four.

"Alright then, if that's what you want." Pulling the ring attached to a string from before out, he began to swing it back and forth, as he did he commanded the four, "Now, keep your eyes on the ring. On the count of Jango, you will fall into a deep sleep, one, two, Jango!" As soon as he finished, he himself fell victim to his own hypnosis, falling back onto the shore, snoring away.

Zoro, Nami and Usopp all sweatdropped at that. "What an idiot."

That's when the three realized that the weirdo wasn't the only one snoring, looking over to see Luffy asleep on his feet.

"The hell Luffy!?" They cried in unison.

As he tilted forward, looking like he was going to fall off the cliff, both Zoro and Nami caught him and laid him down on the grass. Once they were sure he was alright, that was when they realized Kuro was gone, and Jango was asleep.

"You guys stay with Luffy, I've gotta go warn everyone!" Not waiting for them to object or ask any questions, Usopp took off in the direction of the village.

The two left awake then saw that Jango was coming to, so both pretended to be asleep, lying next to Luffy as they did.

Jango rubbed his hat clad head as he got to his feet, as despite wearing it, it still hurt to hit the ground with it on like that. Looking up at the cliff, he could hear a bunch of snoring, though he couldn't see who the snores were coming from. Nevertheless, he assumed he had been completely successful. "It worked like a charm. I am truly a master of hypnosis."

With that he began to walk away, though he did so backwards.

* * *

As Luffy woke from his nap, he sat up and wiped the dust off of his hat, before placing it back on his head. Zoro and Nami had told him that he had fallen for the guy's hypnosis, and that Usopp had taken off to warn the island. The rubber teen in turn said that they would wait for him here.

It wasn't too long before he returned, though he was definitely worse for ware when he did.

He had a hole in his left shoulder, clearly a gunshot wound, which he was clutching with his right hand tightly to keep it from bleeding any further, the blood from it already trickling down in two or three lines all reaching down to his wrist, to add to that, he was covered in bruises. What really caught Luffy's attention though, was the tears streaming down his face, and the look in his eyes, as he came before the straw hat teen and fell to his knees in front of him. "They didn't believe me, no matter how much I begged and pleaded, they wouldn't listen. Not a single person would trust me enough to believe me, not a one, not even Kaya. This...this isn't what I wanted. I never wanted this! I don't want to be the town liar if it means no one trusts me! All I wanted was to bring a little excitement to the village, that's all! They beat me, Merry even shot me, all because of what I did to that bastard Kuro, it didn't help that I told them he was a pirate planning on killing Kaya. You know what she said to me!? She said I was taking things too far, that I was acting like-like the scum that asshole said I was! She said she'd never forgive me!"

Usopp broke down into unintelligible sobs then, it taking several moments for him to regain just enough of his composure to speak. "E-even still, I still love this island, I still love this village and all the people in it, and I-I, I still love Kaya! Even if they don't believe me, even if they beat me or shoot me, even if they hate me, I can't let them die! I refuse to! I have to protect them! But I can't do it alone, I'm too weak! I need help! I need your help! Please Luffy, I'm begging you, help me protect them!"

The two held eye contact throughout all of this, until Usopp spoke the final words of his plea, which was when Luffy broke the constant eye contact, doing so by standing up. Once on his feet, he reestablished eye contact as he spoke. "Of course."

Usopp's bloodshot, puffy red eyes, which were filled with fear, sadness, anger, and most importantly, determination, had a spark of hope ignite in them at those words.

Luffy offered his hand then, so as to help his long nosed friend up, which he took, allowing his slightly younger friend to pull him to his feet. "Now, let's go and beat those guys down!"

"Right!" The other three exclaimed in unison.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	17. Black Cat Down

Ninazu: I can't guarantee something like that won't happen, what I can guarantee however, is that it will not be written out and the scene will fade to black before anything too serious happens. While I doubt something like a rape will actually occur in the current timeline, I can't promise it won't, as if it fits the plot, then it might be implemented. It won't be shown though, the aftermath however is a different story. As for your personal feelings about it, I can understand them, and respect the way you feel. And I hope that this bit of information appeases you.

F-ckthesystem125: Yes, he certainly did. As for what will happen, you'll be seeing in this chapter.

Sage-of-forbidden-arts: Well thank you very much, I appreciate all your kind words. :) As for breaking up the paragraphs more, I'm not sure, I'll try, but no promises. This is because I like the way it reads on the normal version of the site and don't wish to change it.

Tonlor: And here it is, the much requested ass whooping, served up on a silver platter. XD

deant33: Why thank you. As for the first chapters being slow, well, they sort of needed to be, as they were setting the foundation of Luffy's, Zoro's and Nami's relationship, not to mention setting up plot points for future use. But once more, thank you, as I appreciate any constructive criticism.

Joey: Thanks a lot for your encouragement. As for watching where it goes from here, just you wait, some of the things I have planned are going to be so fricking awesome!

Alright it's time for the next bout of fights, hope you guys enjoy them. Once again, I ask for as much feedback on them as possible, so as to help me attune my battle writing skills to the One Piece Universe as best I can. Also, on another note, this is my longest chapter to date, at least for this story anyway.

Now, here's the next chapter, and before anyone asks, no, I have not seen Black Hawk Down, I just really wanted a good title for the chapter, and this came about. Now, please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

It was well past midnight, when three voices caught the attention of Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Usopp.

"Captain Usopp, captain Usopp, is it true!?" Onion, Pepper and Carrot came running and screaming. Seeing them coming their way, Usopp moved his armband up to cover part of the bandages on his shoulder, so as to make the injury look less serious.

They came to a stop before the four, as they continued to shout, "Is that butler guy really a famous pirate who plans on attacking the village and killing Kaya!?" The three didn't wait for an answer, immediately assuming it was true. "What are we gonna do, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna do!?"

Usopp immediately hushed the boys, telling them not to be so loud. "Now what are you guys doing out here so late? Do your parents even know you're gone?"

The kids brushed over that, for obvious reasons, asking their captain once more whether what he had been trying to tell the whole village was true or not.

He then began to laugh, doing so for a few moments, before speaking, "Don't you guys worry about that, it was all just a lie." He falsely explained, a smirk on his face.

"It was just a lie?" The three questioned.

Chuckling a little more, Usopp continued his explanation. "Yeah, it was. That guy, you know, he really made me angry. So, I just said he was a pirate, I made it up, to pay him back for all the things he said to me. I know it was wrong, but I was just so mad, ya know? Sorry for the false alarm guys."

Their faces brightened and they began to laugh with their long nosed captain, though that came to an abrupt halt only a few moments later, when they suddenly stopped. Looks of disappointment were clear on the three children's faces, their eyes showing their judgement of Usopp. "You disappoint me captain. I thought you were better than that." Pepper said.

"You never lied to hurt other people, only to cheer up Kaya and make things exciting. I admired you for that." Onion stated.

"But it looks like we were wrong about you. I mean, I know that guy was a real jerk, but to make up something like this? You could have got him killed if anyone had believed you." Carrot added.

No response came from the long nosed teen, as he wasn't sure what to say. He needn't bother though, as only a few moments later, "I don't know if we can play pirate with you anymore Usopp, you just aren't trustworthy." Pepper was the one to make this remark.

"You should know that everyone's on the lookout for you in the village." Onion said

"So you should probably stay away for a few days at least." Carrot finished for his friend.

"As for us, we're going home." All three kids suddenly said.

With that they turned and walked away. Usopp's shoulders slumped as they began heading home, his sorrow from earlier returning full force, as he realized no one even so much as liked him anymore, not even Kaya or the Usopp pirates.

Once the the kids were out of earshot, Zoro placed a hand on Usopp's shoulder, getting the marksman's attention as he spoke to him. "You did something very honorable there. You should be proud."

"I know, it's just...I've spent my whole life on this island, I know everyone on it, and to think that everyone either hates me, or just doesn't want me around anymore, it hurts more than a dagger in the heart, ya know?" He sounded like he might choke up at any moment, he was clearly fighting back tears.

"I understand. But don't let it distract you, as it could cost you your life in the upcoming battle."

"I know that too. No one listened to me, they all thought I was lying when I said pirates were going to attack, and I'm determined to make sure it's just that, a lie. Tomorrow will be just another boring day for the people of this island, as we'll beat back those bastards before they ever step one foot in the village. I won't let anything distract me from making that happen."

"Good." The other two nodded their heads in agreement with Usopp's and Zoro's words.

* * *

"He lied to us." Pepper stated, no doubt in his voice.

"Yep, straight to our faces." Carrot agreed.

"Why?" Onion questioned

"Isn't it obvious? He's trying to protect us." Pepper answered

"How can we be sure he's not telling the truth? Maybe he really did lie about that butler guy..." Onion said, his doubt showing.

"Did you see how bad he looked? Bandages around his shoulder, bruises everywhere. He must have been thinking we'd end up the same, or worse." Carrot concluded.

"Yeah, but didn't the town do that to him?" Onion inquired.

"Well yeah, but if that's what the town does, there's no telling what horrible things pirates'll do." Carrot explained.

"Okay, but still, how does that prove he lied about lying?" Onion questioned further.

"Think about it, Usopp tells us that he's going to set sail with some friends of his and become a pirate, but he's not going to be the captain. Does that sound like one of his usual lies to you?" Pepper asked.

"No, he's always the captain in his lies." Onion affirmed.

"Exactly. Now if he was honest with us about that, why would he lies to us about the butler? He wouldn't, unless it was to protect us. Not only that, but the look on the other three's faces when we were talking to Usopp, they seemed grim, like they were anticipating something bad happening." Pepper presented.

"And most importantly, Usopp never lies about Kaya, ever. So he's gotta be telling the truth." Carrot pointed out.

"Alright, I see your point." Onion conceded.

"So what do we do?" Carrot wondered.

"I'll tell you what we do, we go protect Kaya!" Pepper exclaimed.

"Yeah!" The other two agreed in unison.

* * *

Kuro stood a mere inch or so away from the window looking out towards the moon, his eyes locked onto the glowing orb, which was in it's crescent state tonight. Behind him was Merry, on top of a ladder, dusting a chandelier. Said man had been continuously trying to make small talk for the past five minutes, but his fellow butler would not reincorporate. Nevertheless a cheery smile remained on his face, as he finished up and climbed down the ladder. Once his feet touched the floor though, he was surprised when his coworker finally decided to speak. "It's a crescent moon tonight."

"Huh?"

"It's on nights like these when I truly feel alive, my heart races and my blood boils in my veins." As he said this, he fixed his glasses, pushing them up a bit.

"Klahadore, what are you talking about?" Merry asked, very confused. "When you say those things, you sound like a-like a-"

"Like a bloodthirsty killer?" Kuro offered, turning around to face the other butler as he did.

"Y-yes."

"Heh, I suppose there's no reason to carry on the act any longer then." Kuro opened his jacket and loosened his tie, as he proceeded to slowly make his way towards Merry. "In just a few short hours, the village will be mourning the unforeseen tragedy of Kaya's death."

"Klahadore, what are you saying!?" Merry shouted disbelievingly.

"You won't be alive long, so I suppose I can tell you." As he said this, he brandished his right hand, which was sheathed inside a black furred glove with full length katana blades at the ends of each finger. "My name's not Klahadore, Klahadore never existed, as I'm sure you've guessed by now. As for who I really am...well, you already know, now don't you?"

Merry took a shaky step back, as Usopp's warning echoed in his mind. "You-you're Kuro, captain of the Black Cat Pirates."

"Indeed." Kuro extended his claws as he reared back for a strike while confirming who he was.

Merry, knowing he had a few moments left to live at most, did his best to cry out a warning to his Mistress. "Mrs. Kaya, you have to get out of here, run!" That was all he managed to get out, before the claws came down upon him, the cut so fierce that it cut the chandelier above him to pieces as well. He coughed up some blood, before collapsing face first onto the ground, the now in pieces chandelier hitting the ground around him.

Kuro didn't so much as spare a second thought to the man, as he fixed his glasses and turned around to walk back to the window. He took one last look out the glass construct, looking up at the crescent moon with bloodlust in his eyes.

Suddenly, without warning, he looked back at the doorway leading to a hallway, but without anything to see there, the empty air only held his attention for a few moments. Returning his attention to the matter at hand, he left the window's side, exited the room and began to make his way up stairs. As he did, he missed the three pairs of wide, fear filled eyes that watched him as he ascended to the second floor, the owners of these eyes hid in a crevice only inches away from where the the false butler had turned his attention to moments ago.

* * *

Kuro didn't pause once on the second floor, moving to Kaya's room immediately. Entering the bedroom, his now bloody claws twitched, as he approached her sleeping form. He came to a stop at her side, watching as she rolled over in her sleep to face upwards. Reaching down, he ever so gently caressed her face with the very tips of his blades, only the tiniest amount of pressure keeping the sharp things from piercing her flesh.

If he was honest with himself, Kuro wanted nothing more than to end the girl's life that moment. However, he restrained himself, pulling his blades back away from her face, leaving not even a drop of blood on her face as he did so. "Soon enough...everything you own...all your money, all your possessions, even this mansion, will belong to me." With that said, the faux butler turned away from the blonde girl, fixed his glasses and left the room.

* * *

"Yep, I'm a genius." Usopp said aloud, verbally patting himself on the back. "This oil slick we've set up will keep them from getting up here, and more importantly, while their all slipping and sliding, we can kick their asses with minimal effort."

"I bet we could do that anyway, trap or no trap." Zoro commented.

"Yeah well, maybe you guys can, but I can't. And I don't intend to sit this fight out, cowering like an idiot. I will defend my home with my own two hands!" He stated proudly.

"As good at fighting dirty as ever I see." Luffy remarked.

"Hey, this is a great plan and all, but look, it's almost day break and their ship is nowhere in sight. Are you sure this is where they're coming from?"

That seemed to catch Usopp's attention, blinking in surprise, no response ready for that, he just stared at her for a moment. "There's only two places on the island where you can get up to the village from, this shore and the other one. This is where they met, so I figured this is where'd they'd be coming from." He stated, not sure what else to say.

"And it never occurred to you they could be coming from the other shore, you know, the one we arrived at!? The one that Kuro brought us to!?"

The long nosed teen's eyes widened considerably at those words, "Oh crap! We're at the wrong shore!" He cried panicked.

"Yeah, no shit!" Nami responded in anger.

"Quick, to the other shore!" Usopp shouted, already running as he did.

"Right behind you!" Luffy and Zoro called in unison.

Nami took up the rear, so she wouldn't be the first faced with the pirates, but also to keep Zoro from wandering off like a moron.

* * *

The moment the four arrived at the other shore, the Black Cat Pirates ship dropped anchor. As the crew began to step off the boat and onto the shore, Usopp did his best to catch his breath while he could, knowing he wouldn't have the opportunity later.

He was done by the time the whole crew was on the shore, Jango heading the pack, as he took a few steps forward to confront the four, almost the entire slope separating the two groups. "We meet again. I thought you'd four'd be out for another few hours, seems you woke up early. Or perhaps...you just tricked me. Either way, it doesn't matter."

"Yeah, try the latter." Zoro said.

"This is your one and only warning, turn back now and leave this island in peace, otherwise...you'll answer to my one hundred million men!"

"No way! One hundred million!? Incredible!" Jango said in awe.

"Captain, he's obviously lying." Several of the pirates said matter of factly.

"No need for lies Usopp, let's just do this the old fashioned way, by kicking their asses!" Luffy exclaimed.

"What!? You lied to us!?" Jango questioned, sounding almost incredulous as he did.

"Uh, duh." Nami stated. "Fricking idiot." That she whispered beneath her breath.

"And what's this about kicking our asses?" One of the pirates asked, sounding a little mirthful as he did.

"There's thirty of us and only four of you, it's literally ten to one!" Another pirate yelled out. He looked rather stupid doing so, as not only was his math horrendous, but counting Jango there were thirty one of them.

"You don't stand a chance!" Yet another spoke.

"We don't have the time to waste with these four, rush on through to the village!" Jango ordered.

"RIGHT! TO THE VILLAGE!" They all cried, as they all, save Jango, charged up the slope towards the four.

"Bad idea." Zoro stated, not even drawing one of his swords as he and Luffy both prepared to attack them.

As they all tried to bum rush the four, Luffy and Zoro stepped forward and hit them hard, knocking them all off their feet and back down to the shore, most of them landing just a foot or so in front of Jango, each one unconscious. This left the hypnotist pirate by himself, with no one in sight to back him up.

"Wow, I knew you'd be strong Luffy, what with Garp and his abuse and all, but I didn't know you'd be strong enough to take all those guys out in one hit, same goes for you Zoro." Usopp said, quite impressed by what he had just seen.

Zoro's response was a simple grin, Luffy actually verbally replied. "Yeah, Gramps just about beat strength into me. Though the training I did on my own would've let me do that. These guys are just really weak is all. They couldn't even beat that Buggy guy, even if they tried all at once."

The green haired swordsman snickered a little at that.

The hypnotist below didn't seem to be paying much attention to them, as his eyes were focused on the rising sun. "We're already late, we don't have any more time, we have to go, and quickly. Otherwise...he'll kill us all." He thought to himself.

Turning his attention the thirty downed men, he pulled out his metal ring with a string attached. "Get up men! Get up now! If you don't, we'll all suffer his wrath!"

All of them began to regain consciousness at those words, their fear causing adrenaline to kick in, as they began to climb to their feet. "If our enemy is strong, then we must become stronger than them." As he began to swing the ring back and forth, he continued to speak, "Here, stare deeply into this ring. Now, I will count one, two, Jango, and after that, you will all begin to grow stronger, your injuries will heal and you will grow stronger still. Stronger, you will all become stronger! One, two, Jango!" He pulled the rim of his hat down over his eyes to keep from hypnotizing himself as he did this.

All thirty men let out roars then, as their eyes glazed over and the hypnosis took affect.

Zoro's hand had been over Luffy's eyes, so he was unaffected.

One of the pirates then slammed his fist into the cliff side that kept them from going up anywhere but the slope, breaking a decent size piece of it off as he did.

"Are you serious, that stupid trick actually worked!?" Nami asked disbelievingly, as Zoro removed his hand from his best friend's face.

Unlike the other three, Usopp was neither unaffected, nor unimpressed, as he reiterated what that guy had just done in words. "He broke part of the cliff with a single punch, and if just one of them can do that, imagine what the whole crew can do!"

"Now go, and strike down all who stand in your way!" Jango commanded the men.

Roaring once more, the thirty men charged up the slope once again, much stronger this time, Jango was sure they'd get past the four.

His hopes were dashed however, as once they got too close, they were knocked right back down, with a cry of, "Gum Gum Bazooka!"

All thirty men hit the ground around Jango, unconscious and bleeding, just from one attack they were finished.

Jango was understandably shocked by this, though his fear and annoyance overpowered his surprise. "Damn it, because of that punk, our whole plan is shot to hell. If Captain Kuro sees this, he'll kill us for sure!"

Now knowing these four, more specifically the two who had actually done something, were much stronger than he anticipated, and with no time left, he brought out their trump card. "Sham, Buchi, come forth, come forth and show them the might of the Mewoban brothers!"

Two figures then leapt off the boat, landing on the shore, only a few feet away from Jango as they did.

"Yes captain, you called for us?"

"Well, did you?"

Everyone's attention was now on these two.

The first one was an overweight man with pale skin, very short black hair, two particularly sharp teeth and small pupils. He wore an outfit that appeared to be loosely based on a black and white cat, the black part of his face contrasting with the other side of his pale skin, showing this basis. He was shirtless, yet still wore a blanket like cape, which was striped light purple and dark purple, with a white fluffy trim. He also wore red and black striped pants with a yellow sash. Finally, he wore one black elbow pad on his left arm, dark brown shoes and pale, baby blue gloves with a slight purple tint and realistic claws coming out of the fingertips. Not to mention he wore a human sized cat bell around his neck.

The second one was a very slim man, with green hair that's parted to the side and curls at the end, with two other parts of hair on the sides of his head, growing downwards in a curly-looking way. He wore a peculiar navy blue shirt, with light grey buttons and a magenta bow tie. He also wore light blue shorts, brown shoes and white socks, long enough to show. Finally, he had dark brown gloves, with realistic claws coming out at the ends of the fingers.

The one thing these two had in common with all of their crewmates, were the cat ears on their head. Though theirs looked a good deal more realistic than all the others.

These two didn't wait for an answer, as they posed a bit, and introduced themselves.

"Sham!" The thin one exclaimed.

"Buchi!" The fat one exclaimed.

"Together, we are the Meowban Brothers! We are at your service Captain!" They finally exclaimed together.

That's when they realized all their fellow crewmen were unconscious around them.

"What the hell?" Buchi wondered.

"What happened?" Sham inquired.

"They happened. And now, I need you to deal with them."

After just a glance Luffy's and Zoro's way, the two took a step back in fear.

"No way, we can't fight them!"

"They look strong, way stronger than us!"

Jango wasn't having any of this. "We don't have time for this nonsense, so just drop the act."

Preparing his ring once more, he called the other pirates to consciousness once more. "All of you, get to your feet, unless you want to suffer Captain Kuro's wrath!"

Those words did the trick, as they all began shakily climbing to their feet, while Sham and Bucci dropped the scaredy cat act, becoming calm as they prepared for the hypnosis they were about to undergo.

As the ring began to swing back and forth once more, Jango did his thing. "On the count of one, two, Jango, you will all grow to your peak strength! You will unlock the strength that one can only achieve through years worth of training and experience! Now, you will all become as strong as you ever possibly could! One, two, Jango!" Once again, he covered his eyes with the brim of his hat to keep from putting himself under the same hypnosis.

Once more the thirty men shot to their feet and roared out together, as their eyes glazed over. This time however, the two Meowban Brothers were with them, their eyes rolling into the back of their heads as well, both of their frames increasing in size a bit, as well as becoming a good deal more muscular.

"Now, show these fools the might of the Black Cat Pirates!"

With that they all charged up towards the four.

Zoro finally drew his swords then, bringing all three out as he did. "Allow me Captain."

With no objections from the rubber teen, the green haired man rushed down to meet them head on.

* * *

Zoro charged into the thick of them, cutting down each and every one that got in his way, carving through to the center of the thirty men, thirtyy two counting the Meowban Brothers. Once he reached that point, all of the glazed over eyes turned to him, as they locked onto him as their target. Rushing him, they did everything they could to harm him in some way, however, he would simply cut them down one by one, for every attack they made he made a counterattack, whittling their numbers down with each one he performed.

As he continued to battle them, Sham managed to slip past his defenses, landing on his back and locking him into a submission hold, bringing both his arms back to keep him from using them or the blades he held with them. Zoro struggled against the thinner half of the Meowban Brothers, managing to avoid the slashes of the other pirates as he did, though with being outnumbered, and being in the center of them, it was only a matter of time before something landed.

"Now Buchi, crush him!" The green haired brother called.

"Cat-apult!" With that the husky, husky and muscular thanks to the hypnosis, brother launched off the ground high into the air, quickly plummeting downward towards Zoro.

Eyes widening, the swordsman knew he had to move, now. So, in spite of the risk it posed, he jumped back headfirst into a bunch of the Black Cat Pirates, the momentum from doing so causing him to escape the thick of them, but, in doing so he also sustained several slashes from the cutlasses that they all wielded. The cuts weren't deep thankfully, though they did draw blood from the eighteen year old.

He got out of the way just in time, as a moment later, Buchi landed with a hard stomp, "Cat-astrophe!", the ground crushing beneath him, the shock wave from the force of the attack knocking down all of the other Black Cat Pirates, and cracking the rock slope several inches in every direction. It even caused Zoro to stumble, in spite of the fact he was far away enough not to be hit.

The rest of the pirates didn't stay down long, and as they got back to their feet, Zoro made sure he kept on his feet despite stumbling, and continued to struggle against Sham's hold. It was clear he was winning, as every movement he made, the thin brother's grip grew weaker. So, using all his strength, he made to break free, doing so quite successfully, breaking free from the other green haired man's grasp and throwing him off with one good jerk of his body.

As he came off, he grabbed ahold of the three swords, and yanked them out of Zoro's grasp, before he could get away though, the swordsman reached out and reclaimed the Wado, only the Wado unfortunately.

His eyes darkened just a bit and his gaze hardened, as he spoke, "No one is allowed to touch this sword, no one. Especially not idiots like you."

"Like I care about that! All that matters is now you only have one sword! I mean three swords, how greedy!" Sham tossed the two blades down the slope to the sand of the shore, as he grinned evilly. "Let's see how well you handle us now!"

With that all the Black Cat Pirates charged up the slope towards Zoro once more, minus the ten he had already taken out. This time though, Sham and Buchi were close to the front, so he had to be quick to avoid them. As the twenty men drew close, Zoro placed the Wado in his mouth, as he untied his bandanna and removed it from his arm, before wrapping it around his head and tying it once more. Now serious, he took the Wado from his mouth, and prepared to dash through the enemy to his other two swords.

He met them head on once more, running into them sword first, slashing down two of them, and blocking three others just a second after. Taking the defensive, he did his best to block all of their blades, as he made his way through them. In doing so, he ended up taking several more cuts to his arms and legs, though none of them slowed him down. Too many began to attack however, and he was only halfway through, plus Sham and Buchi were upon him, so with another two slashes, he took down four more pirates, hastily running through the opening the four provided as they collapsed onto the slope.

He managed to break free from the small crowd, his swords now in his line of sight as he did, although he wasn't in a much better position than before, as the Black Cat Pirates had all turned around and were chasing after him, Sham and Buchi heading the group now. The Meowban Brothers, being a good deal faster than their fellow crewmen, caught up to the swordsman quickly, before he could reach his swords in fact, and as they did, they attacked him. "Pussywillow March!"

Hearing their cry, Zoro spun round to face them, and met their barrage of claw strikes head on, blocking them with the Wado. Their claw strikes were so fast and so strong, that one would assume that they were the reason Zoro was continuously backing away as he defended himself against them, that wasn't the case though, rather he was backing down the slope so as to continue his way down to his swords.

Once he reached the bottom, and his blades were less than a foot away from him, he side stepped and grabbed ahold of one, before turning to face the Meowban Brothers once more, who were in his face again, just about to cut him up with their claws. Zoro pulled back a bit as their claws came down, causing them to leave several scratches down his abdomen, having cut through his shirt and drawn blood from his chest. As they did that, he took the two blades he currently held, and slammed the butt of each one into the sides of the brothers heads, knocking them aside and away from each other. The swordsman took advantage of the opportunity that created, as he placed one of the blades in his mouth and picked up his third one, before facing the rest of the Black Cat Pirate, swords at the ready.

The twelve men, blades drawn, roared as they got ready to engage the three sword style swordsman once more. Before they even got the chance to try and attack him though, he took a specific stance and lunged forward with a cry of, "Oni Giri!"

With that three particular slash marks were etched into the men's upper bodies, each one bringing a good deal of blood, as they all fell face first onto the ground, some of them even rolling down to the shore as they did.

Even with having cut all of those men down, the fight wasn't over, as the Meowban Brothers had recovered from the blows they had taken to the head, and were charging the green haired swordsman once more. Turning to face them, Zoro took a different stance, this one putting the two blades behind the one he held in his mouth, though once in the stance, he made no move to attack.

"This time, we'll end you! Pussywillow March!"

Zoro stayed perfectly still as the two brothers came dashing forward with claws swinging furiously, not budging an inch until they were a mere hairs length from him, but once they reached that specific point, he pivoted forward, bringing his blades down as he did. "Tiger Trap!"

Four slashes cut down each of the brothers abdomens, a bit of blood spurting from each cut as they fell forward, collapsing face first onto the bottom of the slope, without a sound of pain coming from either of them. They didn't so much as twitch after hitting the ground, showing that they were down for the count.

With his enemies defeated, Zoro sheathed his blades.

**Zoro vs The Black Cat Pirates**

**Winner: Zoro**

* * *

With all the commotion of Zoro's battle, Jango managed to slip past the swordsman, just barely doing so, almost getting his head cut off as he did. The worrisome thing about that was that he wasn't very close to the man when it happened. Nevertheless he did it, and to get past the other three, he prepared to perform another hypnotism, and as they reacted, covering Luffy's eyes, he made a run for it, passing by them before they could grab ahold of him.

"You guys stay here, I'll take care of this guy!" Even as Usopp said it, he could feel the fear and panic rising within him, however this guy was the one who was to get Kaya to write her will and then kill her, so he wanted to be the one to face him.

"You got it!" Nami replied.

"Kick that hypno-guy's ass!" Luffy shouted.

With that, the long nosed man nodded and took off after the weirdo hypnotist.

* * *

"Oh no, it's that weird hypnotist guy!" Pepper warned, as he and his two friends took a step back, putting themselves, as well as Kaya, who they stood in front of protectively, against a tree.

"Well if it isn't the little rich girl. You have perfect timing. Now Mrs., if you'd just-"

Before he could do his hypnosis act, the three kids tightened their grips on their makeshift weapons, Pepper wielding a baseball bat, Onion a frying pan and Carrot a mallet, and declared in unison, "We won't let you hurt Kaya! We'll protect her no matter what!"

Jango sighed heavily then. "Is that so? You three brats are going to stop me, really?" A bit of sun was peeking through the trees of the small forest they were in, shining on the face of the current captain of the Black Cat Pirates, and reminding him of just how much he was behind schedule. "I might have humored you, if'd had more time. However, I'm already behind schedule as is, and Captain Kuro won't take kindly to that, so I'm afraid that you three are going to have to get out of my way...or die." As he said this, he pulled two simple chakrams out from his coat, and showed his deadly efficiency with them by proceeding to cut down the very tree the four stood in front of.

Their eyes went wide in fear, and yet they did not run. In fact, the defiant look in their eyes grew, as all three of them charged him at once.

Jango scoffed then. "Fine, have it your way."

* * *

By the time Usopp caught up to Jango, the hypnotist had Kaya by her throat, tears streaming down her face as she struggled against his grasp. These tears of hers came into existence because behind her lie the bloody forms of the Usopp Pirates, Onion, Pepper and Carrot, completely motionless. They didn't so much as twitch, even with all the noise of Jango restraining Kaya.

The long nosed man's eyes widened considerably at the sight, quite shell shocked by it. Only a moment later though, as Jango spoke to the young blonde girl about her will, the grave situation sank in, and he was filled to the brim with anger. "You sunuva bitch!"

As Jango turned to face who had just called him that, he was met with a fist to the face, the sniper hitting him with the hardest haymaker he could summon, socking the bastard in the face, knocking him to the ground, cracking the lenses of his glasses and causing him to drop Kaya, said sickly girl hitting the ground with a small squeak of surprise.

Jango got to his elbows, as he looked up at the one who punched him. "It's you again! Haven't you learned yet!? Meddling in Black Cat Pirate business'll get you killed!"

"Shut up you bastard!" Usopp gritted his teeth to keep himself from lashing out violently again, as he might not hit him so easily again. "Look at what you've done! They were just kids, they had no idea what they were up against! All they wanted to do was to protect a friend, and you killed them for it!"

"I don't need a lecture from you kid." Jango began to get to his feet as he said this.

"Do you not feel even the slightest bit of guilt!? What kind of-"

Not intent on listening to the curly haired teen any longer, the shades wearing pirate slashed at him with one of his chakrams, cutting him deep as he did, blood seeping from the mark it left across his stomach. This attack caught Usopp by surprise, so much so that he didn't have time to scream from the pain, or even the time to experience fear, nevertheless, his mouth was open in a silent cry of pain, as he fell to his knees, before collapsing face first onto the ground.

"USOPP!" Kaya cried.

"Hmph, pathetic." Jango remarked, as he finished getting to his feet. He prepared to trike a lethal blow against the long nose, before he could bring his chakrams down upon him however, "WAIT, STOP!"

This shout from Kaya caught the hypnotists attention, as she continued on, "Please, I'm begging you, leave him alone. I'll do anything, I swear, but please, just don't kill him!"

"Stupid girl, don't you know I'm a pirate, I'll kill this punk and get you to sign that will."

At those words, Kaya brandished the flintlock pistol she had been hiding in the tan coat that she now wore over her white dress, aiming it at the shades wearing pirate as she did. He smirked in response, "That's cute and all, but even if you did manage to kill me with that gun of yours, I'll have already ended this idiot's life. And odds are, you'll either miss, or fail to get a fatal shot, which means our plan goes through anyway."

"That's just it though, for your plan to succeed at all, you need me alive to sign my will. But, if I were to die before that..." As she said this, she pulled the flintlock back, before proceeding to place the barrel of the weapon under her chin. "...then your plan would be ruined." Her finger was only an inch away from the trigger as she finished, and while her hands were shaking a bit, they weren't doing so because of fear. "If you swear to let Usopp live, then I'll sign everything away. If you refuse, then I end your plans with this pistol."

Jango gritted his teeth at that, the situation changing as the girl threatened to commit suicide. "Fine, have it your way." He took his chakrams away from Usopp then, turning his attention to the sickly blonde girl once more as he did. From there he took a piece of paper out from his coat, as well as a pen, before walking over to the girl, and handing them to her, snatching away the pistol as he did. "Now sign the damn papers already."

She began to do as he said, though with his eyes on her, he failed to notice the movement behind him.

"You shouldn't ever turn your back on your opponent!" Those words caught the pirate hypnotists attention, as he whirled to face the one who said them, as he knew the voice. He was too late to do anything however, "Flame Star!" for as soon as he had Usopp in his line of sight, he was hit with a small pellet like ball, which upon impact, ignited his upper body in flames.

Crying out in shock and pain, Jango stopped, dropped and rolled so as to put out the fire, the pistol falling to the wayside as he did. By the time he put it out and got back to his feet though, he was hit with another small spherical object, "Lead Star!", this one packing more of a physical punch to it, as it hit him square in the throat, causing a good deal of pain as he coughed up a bit of blood.

Just like the previous attack, he recovered pretty quickly, as he set his sights on the one who had just attacked him twice, though his throat still hurt, he ignored it and prepared to send one of his chakrams flying at his sharpshooting enemy. Just as he hurled it at him though, he threw a small pellet onto the ground, yelling as he did, "Smoke Star!", the pellet bursting into a small smoke cloud as it collided with the ground, obscuring the teen from view.

Jango's patience had worn through when he had been set on fire, as of now, he was down right belligerent with anger and irritation. "Don't hide like a coward you brat! Come on out, now damn you!"

Almost as if his enemy had been waiting for him to finish speaking, his own chakram came soaring back at him once the last word passed his lips, though spinning forward rather than sideways. Rather than trying to catch it and risk injuring himself, he merely sidestepped the flying metal circle, leaving himself open as he did so.

He looked back towards the now dissipating smoke, his eyes searching about for signs of his younger opponent. However, even by the time the smoke cleared, the meddling long nose was still nowhere in sight.

"Behind you." Jango's eyes widened a great deal as those two words were said right in his ear.

He turned around to face the owner of the voice who had spoken to him, to see Usopp, in his face, his slingshot pulled back and at the ready, a fierce, as fierce as Usopp could manage anyway, look in his eyes. Said sniper was breathing a little raggedly, as he had ran as fast as he could to circle around and get behind his enemy, and looked just a bit different from when Jango had seen him a couple dozen moments ago. First there was the fact that he was bleeding from the right side of his head, showing the chakram had managed to graze him, cutting just deep enough to draw blood. Second was that he was wearing his clear goggles, having slid them down and put them on before he fired the flame star.

Just after Jango registered these three points of information, but just before he could attack, Usopp released his hold on the firing band of the slingshot, firing his next attack at the hypnotist, it hitting him point blank in the face, "Eat this you bastard! Special Attack: Certain Kill Exploding Star!", and exploding upon impact. The force from this miniature explosion broke the shades wearing pirate's glasses and sent them flying, as he screamed in pain and was knocked off his feet from the force of the point blank explosion, landing on his back with a thud, unconscious by the time he did.

Usopp lowered his slingshot now that his enemy was defeated and turned to face Kaya. However, she wasn't where she had been a moment ago, rather she was by the bloody forms of Onion, Pepper and Carrot, all of whom were coming around to consciousness, and as they did, she looked over at Usopp, a smile crossing her tear stained face as she shouted, "They're alive Usopp, they're okay!"

"They're...okay...?" Usopp questioned disbelievingly.

His face lit up a second later however, as he heard the three groan, confirming that they were indeed alive. "They're okay!" He cried.

**Usopp vs Jango**

**Winner: Usopp**

* * *

With Zoro busy dealing with the Black Cat Pirates, and Usopp having run off after Jango, that only left Luffy and Nami at the top of the slope. The latter of whom was eyeing the ship of said cat themed crew, her intentions as evident as the nose on her face.

"You want some help?" Luffy offered.

Nami's thoughts were interrupted by the man who she had once pledged to navigate for, but with her attention now on him, she said what she had been meaning to say since they found Usopp. "It's best you didn't. I talked with Usopp, he said he could navigate for a little while, until you guys found someone better suited to the position. So I'll be leaving tomorrow, now that you your getting a ship and all, and I don't need you hanging around me, trying to pry into my personal life. So now that you don't need me anymore, just leave me alone, alright?" It was phrased as if she expected some kind of answer, but as she turned and ran down the slope, away from Luffy, it was clear she wasn't going to wait for one, and that she didn't care for one.

As she ran down the slope, her back to him, Luffy couldn't help as anger and irritation shot through him, now these emotions weren't necessarily directed at her, rather the act she was putting up, the mask she had on, those were what was grating on his nerves. So, deciding he didn't want to put up with it anymore, he followed after her, intent on confronting her within the confines of the ship she planned to steal from.

* * *

Once on the Black Cat Pirates ship, Nami found her way down to the hold, at the bottom of the boat, where just as she thought, she found a good deal of treasure simply waiting for the taking. And she was the one who'd be doing the taking, she thought to herself as she came upon the first bag, and leaned down to examine the contents. Happy with them, she grabbed ahold of the sack and prepared to hoist it up and over her shoulder.

Before she could though, the sound of footsteps caught her attention, as someone entered the same hold she was in. She stood from her crouching position, letting go of the sack of gold she had in her grasp a moment ago, and yet didn't turn to face this person. This was because she already knew who it was, the sound of his sandals clacking against the the wood, plus his scent being what let her know. "Look Luffy, what do you-"

As she turned to face him, he cut her off, grabbing ahold of her by the arms and forcing her to look him in eyes as he did. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but this act of yours, it's not working, and all it is doing is getting on my nerves. Whatever you're doing, what ever you're trying to hide, whatever you're afraid of, you don't have to throw away our friendship, our bond over it!"

Nami closed her eyes tight to keep any tears from escaping, as she turned her head away, even as she did, her voice betrayed her, portraying her mix of emotions. "You don't understand Luffy, you don't know what I've gone through these last eight years. You can't ever know..." Those last words were said under her breath.

He shook her a bit at that, getting her eyes back on him in doing so, his expression one of frustration, with a bit of helplessness mixed in, plus all the feelings he held for her showing through as well. "Then tell me, make me understand! What ever pain you have inside, let it out! Scream if you wanna, cry if you need to, hit me if it helps you, just take it all out on me! You don't have to deal with whatever it is alone, let me help you!" His eyes bored into hers as he did his very best to get her to confide in him.

The young woman couldn't help but gasp at his words, at the same time, the tears she had been fighting so hard to keep in began to come out, the look in the raven haired teen's eyes helping to cause this. And as she began to cry, the straw hat teen pulled her into an embrace, as he tried to comfort her and calm her. He simply held her there, blocking out the sounds of fighting from outside, only focusing on the young girl in his arms.

There in his arms, as she cried into his chest, she almost forgot about what she had to do, she almost forgot that he couldn't help, she almost forgot she had to do this on her own otherwise all the people she loved would die, keyword, almost. So, with her resolve hardened, she took a few shaky breaths, then a sharp one, before shoving the rubber boy away from her as hard as she possibly could. "You are so stupid! Why don't you get it!? I don't need you or your help, nor do I want them!"

That certainly took the youthful pirate captain back, "Nami, I-" As he tried to speak once more he took a step forward, however he was cut off and stopped in his tracks as Nami continued to shout at him. "No! Shut up! Just shut up! You don't know anything you blithering idiot!" She shook her head vigorously as she yelled this. "Why do you even want to help me anyway!? I thought I made it clear, I don't want anything to do with you or your stupid dream! I was only helping you out because you agreed to let me go without a fuss afterwards!"

Luffy's eyes were once more wide with pain and shock, however that didn't deter Nami, even despite the fact that her tears continued to stream faster, she continued on unlike last time. "Tell me why!"

"Because I love you." He still appeared shocked and hurt, but he didn't hesitate with his answer, not even the slightest bit.

Nami laughed at that, she laughed an ugly, mean, nasty, bitter laugh. "You love me huh? A lot of people have 'loved' me, what makes you any different or any better than them?"

The young teen's eyes widened even further, managing to catch her double meaning, the sharp increase of hurt in his eyes all too visible, just as the anger he was feeling was visible, said anger beginning to morph into rage, as he began to clench his fists quite tightly.

As she was making eye contact with him now, she saw his feelings clearly. "What, thought when you found me that I'd be your little virgin princess?" She spat at him then, it landing only a hair's away from his person. "Fuck you Luffy."

He began to draw blood, more blood than most could with their own fingernails, as his fists somehow managed to clench even tighter, and tears began to finally fall from his face, despite how hard he had been fighting them back. He wanted, needed to say something in response, but the tears were speeding up with every second, and all the emotional agony he was in, not to mention the shock he was feeling, had him speechless.

Unfortunately for him, her verbal barrage wasn't over just yet. "You really wanna help me Luffy? Then get the hell out of my life! Because if you haven't figured it out yet, I don't want anything to do with you! Understand!? I HATE YOU!" She cried this almost at the top of her lungs.

Finally not able to take anymore, he took action, crossing the hold to her, stopping less than half a foot from her, his face dangerously close to hers, as he spoke with a low, somber, almost dangerous tone. "Even still, I won't let you leave. Only once I've freed you from whatever binds you, whatever's causing you so much pain and suffering, will I let you leave. If you really hate me so much, and don't want to be a part of my crew, then you're free to leave. But only once you yourself are actually free."

With that Luffy turned away and walked out onto the deck of the ship.

Once he was gone, Nami collapsed to her knees, barely able to hold herself up in even that position, everything she had said weighing so very heavily on her. Her throat almost felt like it was burning, having had to spit such acidic words at the one she loved the most, it physically hurt her just as much as it did emotionally. And now, with him no longer in sight, she couldn't keep it together anymore, and began to cry her eyes out, whimpering to herself all the while. "Luffy, I'm so sorry. It was all lies...everything I said to you, every single word was a lie. Please...forgive me. Don't hate me. Don't leave me. I love you." As much as she wanted to say all of this to Luffy, she couldn't, not if she wanted him to continue to live on and follow his dream.

* * *

As Luffy jumped down off the deck of the ship onto the sand of the shore, Zoro's eyes locked onto him, watching as he made his way to the slope. He could immediately tell something was wrong, as not only were the rubber teen's hands bleeding, but his hat was down, covering half of his eyes. And even though that was the case, he could still see that the raven haired boy was crying.

"Are you okay?" Though he didn't say it verbally, Zoro managed to ask the straw hat wearing pirate this question with only his eyes, as the teen came to a stop two or so feet from him.

Luffy failed to answer, though his sobs did an excellent job of doing so for him, as he pulled his hat down to cover almost his entire face, beginning to cry even harder while doing so.

Zoro's eyes narrowed greatly, as he knew just who had caused his younger friend, his brother, so much pain without so much as lifting a finger against him. "Damn her."

Luffy didn't get much time to pull himself together, before his and Zoro's attention was called to the top of the slope, "What the hell is this!?" where they saw Kuro, looking somewhat less dignified than he had last time, as well as more dangerous, as he now sported a black furred glove with full length katana blades at the end of each finger on his right hand, his indignation evident in his eyes and voice.

"What do you all think you're doing lying down on the job!? Or did you actually lose to these brats!? And where the hell is Jango!? How did that idiot let this happen!?" He dropped the satchel he held with his non-gloved hand onto the ground as he shouted all this.

"Kuro!"

That got the false butler to turn away from the scene of his entire crew, minus Jango, unconscious down below, and look towards the one who had angrily called his name, Usopp himself. The long nosed teen's teeth were grit, his eyes showing his anger, as he took aim at the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates with his slingshot, getting ready to fire one of his stars at the glasses wearing bastard. "Your plan has gone belly up, your men and that weird hypnotist guy, my friends and I showed them exactly why you don't mess with this island! There's no one left but you, there's no way you can succeed now! We're stopping you here!"

"You, stop me? Do you understand how absurd that notion is? You're nothing but a pathetic weakling, a cowardly liar, a sniveling child, and a long nosed buffoon. You don't have the slightest chance in stopping me. The only reason you've gotten so far is because of one simple miscalculation that I made, and that was in bringing those three wannabe pirates here. If I had know they were friends of yours, I'd have disposed of them before setting the final stage of my plan into motion." The fake butler adjusted his glasses, before stating one more thing. "Even now, my plan will not fail."

"Oh yeah? And just how did you come to that? Your hypnotist is down for the count, there's no one left that can get Kaya to sign that stupid will you drew up."

"I can always get her to sign it by force. By beating these fools, you've forced me into a position where I'll have to carry out my plan with my own hands, something I had been meaning to avoid. All you've really managed to do, is irritate me." Kuro crouched and opened up the satchel, as he continued to speak. "In fact, rather than help Kaya, you've made things worse for her. If my plan had been carried out in it's original form, then she'd have died a painless death, completely unaware of anything around her, that way she'd go peacefully. However, because of your interference, not only will she have to be made aware of the fact that her caring butler had been deceiving her this whole time, but she'll have to die by my hands, and I don't do gentle. She'll die in agony and fear, as a slice her to ribbons...and it'll be all your fault." As he finished, he left the bag where it was and stood once more, now wearing a second furred glove, it being completely identical to the other one, blades and all.

Usopp's eyes narrowed, as his anger morphed into rage and he shouted, "Shut up! That won't happen, because as long as I stand, I won't let you hurt Kaya! Now take this you goddamned bastard! Exploding Star!", firing the small projectile at his enemy after finishing doing so.

Kuro barely put any effort into dodging the attack, merely sidestepping it, before lunging forward, slashing at the curly haired teen with both of his Cat Claws as he did. The simple attack did a great deal of damage, as ten diagonal slash marks were carved into the marksman's chest, five from the left down, five from the right down, blood spurting from each one of them as they appeared on his body. The attack caused Usopp's body to be pushed back a step, the pain that shot through his body so severe, that a half strangled cry was all that managed to escape his mouth, the teen hurting far too much to form a full scream. His eyes rolled back inside his head then, as he stumbled forward, before falling face first to the ground, blood beginning to pool under him.

Kuro straightened his posture and turned to face Usopp once more, after said teen had fallen to the ground. "Someone as pathetic as you, can't protect anyone." The darkly dressed man fixed his glasses once more, as he spoke again. "From the start of your little stand against me and my plan, you were bound to fail. You will die, your friends will die, and then Kaya will die. As far as the villagers are concerned, all of us will have been caught up in trying to stop a pirate attack, and I'll be the only survivor. Don't worry though, I'll tell one last lie on your behalf. I'll tell them you bravely defended Kaya, using your own body to shield her from the vicious pirates, and that you died a hero. Unfortunately, your efforts were in vain, as she died anyway, falling victim to the blade of the captain, in spite of my own efforts to save her. I'll be the butler who lost his one purpose in life, to serve his mistress, and it'll come as no surprise when I inherit the girl's estate and become a recluse. A bit different from my original plan, but it'll have to do."

"You're a heartless fucking asshole, but you were already aware of that, weren't you?" Usopp spat bitterly and sarcastically, wheezing in pain and coughing up a bit of blood as he did so, turning over so that he was lying on his back just before he did.

Kuro's eyes met Usopp's own, back to normal, rage filled ones, as his annoyance at those words became apparent in his eyes.

"You lived with that girl for almost three years, and yet you have no problems with killing her!? You feel no shame or guilt over what you've been planning to do since the beginning!? Even after all she's done for you!? Only a true monster could feel like that."

"Hmph. All she's done for me? Please enlighten me, when has that rich little brat ever done anything for me?"

That's when Kuro heard the click of a flintlock being cocked from behind him, he responded in a split second, whirling to face whoever dared come up behind him, bringing his right set of claws with him, looking to slice up whoever it was. "Don't ever sneak up on me, unless you want to die!"

"KAYA!" Usopp cried in fear, as he forced himself to his feet and rushed to her aid, tackling her out of the way at the last second, taking the slashes in her place, the blades carving five marks into his back, blood beginning to seep from them only a moment later.

Kuro was caught off guard by this, but that only lasted for a moment, as he straightened his posture once more, and regained the little bit of his cool that he had lost.

Kaya lie under Usopp, as they had hit the ground after he had tackled her, her eyes wide as she realized what the long nosed boy had just done for her. "Usopp?" She spoke, almost hesitantly as she did.

The curly haired teen made no move to get off her, hell he didn't even respond to her when she spoke to him, only his ragged breathing letting her know he was still alive, this being because he could barely feel anything other than the pain he was in, which made it incredibly hard to move once so ever. This was brought on by the blood loss he was currently suffering from. And as Kaya managed to gently dislodge Usopp, putting him on his back as she did, she would realize this as well, seeing as she had been studying to become a doctor for quite a few years. Just the sight of the ten slashes across his upper body nearly caused the pale girl to scream in horror, and the fact that he was covered in blood didn't help in the slightest. She stifled the scream that wanted to come out though, and tried once more to get her protector's attention. "U-Usopp...?"

"Ka-Kaya, what are you d-doing he-here? You were supposed to go to the vi-village and get the U-Usopp Pirates to a doc-doctor." He managed to wheeze out.

Not being able to hold back the tears that had been wanting to come out since she arrived at the shore any longer, they began to roll down her face. "I did. They're safe, the village doctor is treating them as we speak."

"Yo-you were supp-supposed to stay with th-them, safe, in th-the village. Wh-why are you here? Your life is in dan-danger! You've got-gotta run, now, qui-quickly!"

"I won't! You're still here fighting, even after I treated you so badly, and everything the village did to you, you're still fighting to protect all of us...you're still fighting to protect me. I won't run, I won't abandon you when you refused to abandon me! Look at you, you're barely alive, yet still so brave, how could I run away and leave you!?"

"This is no place for a lady Mrs. Kaya, please leave." Kuro stated with faux concern.

Kaya's eyes widened considerably at those words, "Stop.", she got off her knees and rose to her feet then, as she raised her head and made eye contact with the one who had been her butler for so long. "Just stop! You don't need to keep that stupid act up any longer! Merry told me everything, if you want my fortune that badly, then you can have it! Take it, I don't care, just take it and leave this island in peace!"

If Kuro was surprised that Merry was still alive, he didn't show it. "Peace? It's funny you would say such a thing Mrs. Kaya, as that's exactly what I want. It's true that I want your fortune, however I don't just simply desire to be wealthy, no, rather I want to live my new life in the peace of this village. No pirates, no marines, only the sense of peace and tranquility that comforts me so. When my plan finally comes to fruition, I will live with the sublime peace of mind I so desire. Yes, the glorious comfort of a peaceful life, will be mine for forever and ever. In short, no matter what happens today, you will leave your fortune to me, and die. Mrs. Kaya, these things will happen...I promise you."

Kaya shook her head vigorously, closing her eyes tightly, as she cried, "NO! No they won't!", opening her eyes, she quickly picked up the pistol she had dropped after being tackled, and took aim at the one who had once been her closest confidant. "You will leave this island, NOW! Otherwise...I...I...I'll kill you!" Her hands were shaking almost uncontrollably as she shouted all of this, her tears managing to travel even faster down her face.

"You'd honestly take my life?" Kuro asked, using the tone that contained his false gentleness as he did.

"Stop it! I can't take any more of your lies! Please, just go, and never come back!" Her desperation was obvious.

"Yes, I see. You're all grown up now, no longer the child I once knew. So much has happened since you became my mistress, and all of it has made you stronger, so much so that here you are, willing to defend your loved ones even if it might cost you your life." Kuro removed his right Cat Claw, holding it with his left hand, as he continued on. "Mrs. Kaya, don't you remember all that we've been through together? We spent so much time together, even before your dear sweet parents passed away. You were more than my master, you were my best friend." The suave, sweet talking man pushed his glasses up with his non-gloved hand, before continuing further on. "So much time...so many memories, together we suffered and together we rejoiced, like family."

"Klahadore..." Kaya's voice showed her uncertainty, her hesitation, as her tears continued to come even faster. It was plain as day, on her face and in her eyes, she wanted so badly to believe that this wasn't real, that one of the three people closest to her hadn't betrayed her, and wanted nothing more than to kill her and take her fortune. She just wanted her best friend back.

The now sweetly smiling man was slowly moving towards her, as he began speaking once again. "I took you on shopping trips to the city, I looked after you so diligently when you were ill, and we used to talk for hours and hours. Kaya, listen to me, I was devoted to you for so long." He stopped little more than a foot from her, before reaching out and grabbing ahold of the pistol she clutched between her hands so desperately. Now that he had a hold on the weapon however, his gentle, caring, sweet tone vanished, as the tone of Kuro the killer took it's place once more. "For so very long, I endured." A small gasp escaped Kaya, as she realized she might have just made a mistake. "I quietly suffered, so that today I could end your life and take everything that I deserve." Kuro removed the flintlock from her grasp, before tossing it aside, confirming the young blonde girl's fears with his words, as she bit her lip to keep from sobbing aloud.

His tone took on an even more malicious nature then. "I, who was once the dreaded Captain Kuro, had to bow, scrape and humble myself before some spoiled little girl, and cater to her every whim...can you even fathom my humiliation!? It went against every fiber of my being. Do you understand the depth of these daily insults? Can you understand the rage created by those transgressions against my pride!?"

Luffy had heard enough, and was now slowly making his way up the slope towards the three.

Kaya couldn't keep her sobs from coming out any longer, as they became vocalized, filling Usopp with rage. "KURO!" He cried as he shot to his feet, his fist cocked and ready to be thrown, unfortunately, Kuro caught the fist with his non-gloved hand when it came flying, before slashing the long nosed teen's right side with the Cat Claw he still wore, proceeding to kick him in the same side, knocking him to the ground, a cry of pain escaping him as he hit the dirt, a rib or two broken from the strong kick.

"USOPP!" Kaya shouted with worry.

"I'm honestly surprised you're still alive after receiving three direct attacks from my Cat Claws, though I suppose I can just chalk it up to your stubborn, idiotic nature. In the end however, it's all futile, as my plan will not fail."

Usopp began struggling to his feet once more, "I...won't let you...hurt Kaya. I'll protect her...even if it costs me my life!", managing to stand up, albeit with a noticeable slouch, much faster than one would expect him to. Although, that didn't change anything, as he had lost a lot of blood, was still wheezing pretty badly, and to add to it all, had lost his slingshot along the line of getting knocked to the ground three times, which left him completely defenseless.

"You truly are pathetic." Kuro stated.

"Hey Kuro!" The name he so wanted to erase being called from behind him got the false butler's attention, as he turned around to face whoever had spoken it. The only problem...said person was a certain straw hat wearing individual, and was currently in his face, right fist cocked back, ready to be thrown. "Just shut up already! I'm tired of listening to your bullshit!" Said fist was then rammed into Kuro's face, breaking the right lense of his glasses upon impact, the force behind the fist causing the dark haired man to yelp in pain and be knocked down to the ground hard, so hard in fact that he tumbled backwards several times, coming to a stop in a hunched over sitting position.

Luffy didn't let him off with just that, closing the distance between them and kicking him in the chest, knocking him flat to the ground this time, his glasses being knocked off in the process as well. With him looking to be done, the raven haired pirate turned and began walking away.

Usopp could only watch in shock as this happened, barely being able to believe it even as he saw it. He was able to shake off this shock however, when he saw the same man who had seemingly been knocked out, sit up, the moment he did, the long nosed sniper opened his mouth to warn his rubber friend, before he could though...

"Gum Gum Stamp!" Luffy shouted, as he turned and shot his left foot out, stretching it to reach the cat themed former pirate, his sandaled foot slamming into his face and continuing to stretch, taking him along with it, until he and the rubber foot slammed into a tree, the nicely dressed man's head crashing through it, going about halfway through all the wood, to about the center of the tree. Retracting his foot from Kuro's face, Luffy had his leg return to it's normal length, before placing his foot back on the ground, leaving the former captain of the black cat pirates lying limply against a tree, his head literally ran through half the damn thing.

When Luffy turned around this time, Nami caught his eye, the orange haired teen standing on the deck of the Black Cat Pirate's ship, looking to have been watching what had been going on. The two made eye contact for several moments, before Nami broke it, looking away, before turning and walking away entirely. The straw hat pirate simply lowered his head, and began making his way back down the slope, towards Zoro.

Usopp was quick to try and follow, "Holy crap Luffy! You're-", he stumbled then, almost falling to the ground, before Kaya moved to him and caught him, helping him to stand and make his way after their mutual friend. After thanking the pale girl, Usopp continued with what he had been saying before, "You're fricking amazing! You took that guy down in three hits flat! Thanks for that by the way."

"Yes, thank you so much Luffy." Kaya said pleasantly, though she could only form the tiniest smile at that point, her tears not even dried yet.

"No problem." Luffy replied, his tone just a bit off from the usual happy go lucky one they were used to.

Only Zoro, who was waiting at the bottom for them, knew why, and could see that the expression on his face was anything but happy.

* * *

As Kuro pulled his head out of the tree, several small pieces of bark broke off of it. Despite having just freed himself from the tree, the former pirate captain made no move to stand up, as he was in no shape to fight after all the damage he had just taken. Almost the entire right side of his face was covered in blood, the dark haired man holding his right eye closed to keep any from getting in it. "How could that damn brat injure me so much in only three blows? Every attack felt like being hit with a fucking galleon! How could some punk like him have such monstrous strength!?" The scheming man wondered to himself. "And that stretching ability...he must have eaten a devil fruit." He thought to himself. "If I could just get to my feet, I could at least outpace him, since I can't outfight him. I'd slice him to ribbons before he knew what was happening, if I could only stand." He tried to climb to his feet then, however the pain racking his body was too much, and he fell back to the ground, ending up in the same sitting position against the tree he had been in before.

Coming to terms with the fact that he had just been wrecked, Kuro wiped most of the blood off his face with his gloved hand, staining the material of the palm with the red sticky substance, but allowing him to open his right eye once more. "I've no choice, if I want my plan to succeed, I have to resort to drastic measures." With his non-gloved hand, he then reached into his jacket and pulled out a small white pill, holding said pill between his index finger and thumb. He brought it overhead and looked up at, examining it for a few moments, as his thoughts wandered. "I called in every favor owed to me, used up all of my connections, and paid a small fortune, all for this little tablet...it better be worth it."

Popping the pill into his mouth, he outright swallowed it, not bothering to chew. The effect was almost immediate, as he felt strength return to him, not only that, but he felt his muscles expand a bit as well, making him the slightest bit more muscular. He didn't feel as good as new, he felt better than ever. So he got to his feet, before walking over and retrieving not only his glasses, placing them back on his face once more despite them missing a frame, but also his other Cat Claw, slipping it on as he prepared to kill everyone here.

* * *

Luffy was silent as he got to the bottom of the slope, even though Usopp was talking his ear off as he followed behind, with the help of Kaya. The long nosed teen didn't seem to get the hint, as he continued to ramble on, as he and Kaya followed the rubberman, as he drew closer to the ship of the Black Cat Pirates.

This continued, until Zoro cut him off, "That's enough Usopp."

"But I was just-"

"Just leave him alone, okay?"

Usopp was understandably confused. "I don't understand. Did something happen?"

The green haired teen looked back at his younger brother then, to see him just standing there, his hat pulled down a bit, seemingly as he stared at the Black Cat Pirates ship. "Yeah, something happened alright." Once the swordsman turned his head back to face Usopp and Kaya, they understood how serious it was by the look on his face. While they didn't understand what had happened, they both knew better than to push someone when they were too upset to even talk, so they backed off, wondering to themselves as they did, "What's wrong with Luffy?"

Unbeknownst to his three friends behind him, Luffy's eyes narrowed, as a somewhat familiar sound made itself known to his ears. "What was that?" Turning around to have a quick look around, his eyes widened as he spotted Kuro, standing behind Usopp and Kaya, poised to strike. "Look out!"

It was too late though, as before they had any time to react, the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates struck, slicing Kaya up from behind, ripping up the back of her coat and dress, and carving ten slash marks into her back, blood spurting from said marks the moment they came into being. She was knocked to the ground from the force behind the attack, a cry of pain escaping her as she did, causing Usopp to yell out in panic and fear, "KAYA!"

The conniving man wasn't done yet, as he prepared to attack Usopp as well, before his blades could make contact with his flesh once again however, "Usopp, move!" Zoro tackled him out of the way, doing so just fast enough to prevent either of them from taking the slashes from his right Cat Claw.

The former butler wasn't deterred in the slightest, turning to face the swordsman and marksman and striking out once more. But just before the Cat Claw could hit it's mark, Luffy managed to get in between it and his friends, stopping the blades in their tracks by grabbing ahold of their user's wrist, keeping him from moving them any closer to their intended targets. "No you don't!"

"You managed to stop one of my claw strikes, impressive." Kuro remarked. Even as he said it, his other Cat Claw was ready for use.

"Zoro, get Usopp and Kaya to that ship! Make sure to keep them and Nami safe!" As Luffy gave this order, Kuro brought down his other Cat Claw, which the straw hat pirate also managed to stop, catching him by the wrist for the second time.

"On it Captain!" Zoro replied, as he stood, throwing Usopp over his shoulder as he did, before running over to and scooping up Kaya, then getting ready to rush to the Black Cat Pirates ship. Just before he did though, Luffy spoke to hime once more. "Zoro, take my hat too."

"Right!" The swordsman came to Luffy and quickly took the straw hat from his head and placed it on his own, before rushing to the boat like he had originally intended.

* * *

Nami had wandered to the back of the ship after breaking eye contact with Luffy, not wanting to face him in the slightest. "His eyes...they were so cold." She thought to herself. "I...I did that." Tears once more threatened to escape from her eyes, so she preemptively wiped at them, so as to make sure not a drop escaped. "I can't cry anymore, I just can't."

She was snapped out of her thoughts as the sound of a scream pierced her ears. "What the...?" Shouting soon followed, so the orange haired girl raced to the front of the ship, only to be nearly knocked over as Zoro climbed aboard. "Hey, watch what you're doing!" He ignored her, as he placed Kaya and Usopp down, as he did so that's when Nami noticed he had been holding them in the first place.

"What happened? Kaya's all cut up!"

""Yeah, turns out that Kuro guy wasn't down for the count like we thought he was. Luffy'll take care of him though, we just gotta make sure to be ready if the underhanded bastard makes his way up here."

"Wait a sec, why are you wearing Luffy's hat?" Nami asked, suddenly realizing that the green haired man was wearing it.

"Why do you care?"

As Zoro and Nami spoke with one and other, Usopp had gotten to his knees to make sure Kaya was alright. She was unconscious and her breathing was shallow, but she was still alive, thankfully.

Zoro noticed all the rage in Usopp's eyes then, as he did, he stopped talking with the cartographer, and spoke to the sniper, "Don't worry, Luffy'll make that guy pay for hurting one of his friends, trust me."

Usopp nodded his head then, "I know he will." After saying this, he stood to watch the battle that was happening below.

* * *

Luffy was locked in a test of strength between himself and Kuro, as the former held the Cat Claws at bay, keeping them from cutting him to pieces, while the latter pushed further downward with the pair of weapons, intent on killing the rubber young man. Only a few moments in, it was clear who had the advantage, as Kuro couldn't gain any ground. So, with the upcoming result already being obvious, the man of thousand plans opted out of the strength contest, doing so by kicking his opponent in the chest, breaking away from him by doing so, and causing the straw hat wearing teen to skid back several feet. Capitalizing on that, he took two quick steps forward, before delivering a powerful right spin kick to his enemy's chest, the force behind the kick knocking him to the ground hard, so hard that it caused him to tumble backwards about a dozen feet.

As the false butler placed his foot back on the ground, he thought to himself, "My strength, it's increased drastically. With this new boost, and my speed, there's no way this punk can beat me. It's finally time...time to kill everyone here." A wicked smirk crossed his face then, before he began to wobble back and forth, going from one leg to the other, over and over again, repeatedly.

When Luffy had stopped rolling, he came to a stop face down against the ground. Despite the power behind the kick he had just received, he felt no pain, though his opponent's newfound strength did have him wondering where it came from. Nevertheless, he didn't let his mind wander on the subject, as he had to focus on the situation at hand, so he got to his knees and prepared to stand. As he did get to his feet however, Kuro disappeared just before the moment the raven haired teen would have laid eyes on him. "Outta The Bag Attack!" A decently strong gust of wind was blown up then.

Kuro was nowhere to be seen, even as Luffy scanned the whole shore with his eyes, he couldn't find the guy. "Where'd he go?"

Luffy's attention was then caught, when suddenly, out of nowhere, five slashes appeared on one of the Black Cat Pirates grunts abdomen, blood spurting from them.

"What the...?"

The same thing happened again to another of the grunts, this one lying nearly twenty feet from the other one. Three more followed suit, before Luffy was finally hit by some of these slashes, two carving into his right arm, one going across his left leg, and then one more ripping across his abdomen. If these hurt him, he certainly didn't show it, as he watched intently while the slashes started hitting the Black Cat Pirates once more. The raven haired young man's eyes widened quite considerably, as he realized just exactly what was going on.

He continued to watch, almost as if he was bewitched by the sight, as the shore was painted in the blood of the Black Cat Pirates, the men being torn apart by the man who had once been their very own captain.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, one after the other they were slaughtered, as if they were nothing more than cattle.

Finally, Luffy could take no more, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?", he screamed in rage.

Kuro came to a stop then, appearing once more, impaling the husky Buchi on his right Cat Claw as he did, killing the man almost instantly. The former pirate looked a little different now, his jacket was still open and his tie was still loosened, but his hair, it wasn't slicked back anymore, also he had several strands of it loose, said strands falling onto his face. Then, most noticeably, his eyes were filled with bloodlust. "It's none of your business boy, but if you must know, I never intended to let any of these mongrels leave this island alive. No one who knows my true identity can live to tell about it, not if I want the peace I desire so much. Once I'm done here, I'll kill that fool Jango too. To erase Captain Kuro and everyone who ever knew him, that is what my plan entailed from the very beginning."

"You sunuva bitch, they're your crew, you're supposed to protect them! How could you dare to even think about harming them!?" The straw hat pirate shouted.

Kuro fixed his glasses before responding. "If that's what you truly believe, then you're nothing but a misguided fool. Pirates are nothing more than savages, incapable of rising above their animal nature. Without my plans, what could these imbeciles possibly accomplish? A crew is nothing to me, they are simply a means to an end. Crewmembers are just pawns in the captain's game. Whether my men live or die is up to me and me alone." If as to prove his point, he pierced the head of Sham, another one of his crew, with his left Cat Claw, killing the man without so much as batting an eye.

"DON'T YOU HAVE ANY HONOR, THOSE MEN ARE YOUR FRIENDS!" Luffy cried near the top of his lungs, completely outraged by the other man's actions.

"Friends? You truly know nothing. This, this right here, is what pirates are! So don't you dare talk down to me boy!" Kuro shot back, his rage now as visible as his enemy's.

"You...you aren't a real pirate. You're nothing more than scum!" Luffy spat, as he began rushing towards the older man.

"It would appear that you need a lesson in what pirates are truly like, allow me to be the one to give it to you!" Kuro rebutted, as he charged forward as well.

When the two met, Luffy stopped Kuro's downward cut with his right Cat Claw by catching him by the wrist, just as Kuro stopped Luffy's right straight, by catching his fist, preventing it from connecting. The two had deadlocked, though it didn't last long, as Luffy took his feet off the ground and decked the darkly dressed man in the chest with both legs, causing him to skid back several feet, letting go of Luffy's fist in the process. The rubberman didn't intend to give his enemy any time to recuperate, as when he landed on his feet, he shot his right fist forward, his arm stretching so as to allow it to reach the glasses wearing man. "Gum Gum Pistol!"

His fist hit it's mark, slamming into Kuro's abdomen just as he came to a stop, causing him to hunch over in pain from the blow. Snapping his arm back, he shot the other one forward, so as to hit him with a second pistol. "And again!" Only this time, right before the punch could make contact, the intended target disappeared for a moment, reappearing on top of the outstretched arm. Not wasting any time, he began sprinting down the stretched out rubber arm, preparing to behead it's owner with his left Cat Claw. Once close enough, he tried to do just that, only Luffy crouched, causing the blades to miss him by half an inch, taking a few strands of hair with them as they passed over his head.

The rubberman then tried for a punch from below, aiming to hit his opponent in the side of his knee, so as to damage his left leg. Kuro was too quick to be hit by it however, leaping off of his enemy's arm, putting himself a dozen feet in the air by doing so. Aiming to take advantage of the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates position, Luffy retracted his arm back to it's normal length, before kicking upwards with his right leg, it rapidly stretching so as to catch it's target before it could move out of the way. "Gum Gum Volcano!"

Kuro blocked the incoming kick with the blades of his weapons, stopping it from hitting his actual person, though not stopping it in continuing to stretch further upward. Not wanting to be taken along with it, he flipped over the foot and kicked off of the leg it was attached to, causing him to come racing down toward it's owner, pulling back to strike as he did. Luffy didn't have time to block what was coming, as Kuro got down to him too fast, tearing him up with all ten blades of his Cat Claws as he did, ripping ten slash marks into the flesh of the straw hat pirate's torso, all of which spewed blood upon coming into existence.

The former cat themed pirate captain landed gracefully on his feet right behind his victim, doing so in a crouched position, while said victim fell to his knees, just after his leg had returned to it's normal length. Returning to a standing position, Kuro pushed his glasses up, before doing the steps necessary for the technique he was about to use. "Pussyfoot Maneuver!" He disappeared at just the right moment, as Luffy got to one foot and swung his arm back, stretching it as he did so as to make sure he hit his opponent, though he ended up hitting nothing but air.

Growling in annoyance, Luffy finished getting to his feet, as his eyes searched about for the man that had just cut him up. For several moments he couldn't catch sight of him, however, that's when he focused on his other senses, which allowed him to hear that familiar noise once more. Still not sure what the noise was, he simply assumed that wherever he heard the noise, must be where his enemy was. This assumption did him some good, as the sound was now coming from right behind him, so following his instincts, he leaned back until his hands touched the ground, just as the glasses wearing man appeared again, aiming for his head once more, but his claws missing entirely because of the rubberman leaning all the way back.

Luffy was quick to react to his reappearance, by shifting his weight onto his hands, so as to lift his feet off the ground, where he proceeded to put them together, bending his knees as he did, before shooting them out, ramming them into Kuro's gut with great force, stretching them several feet after impact so as to put some distance between him and the double digit blade wielding man. "Gum Gum Spear!"

Kuro couldn't help but cough up some blood after taking the blow, doing so before the momentum from the attack stopped and he fell to the ground, landing on his back as he did. The raven haired teen wasn't finished with him yet, after his legs snapped back he flipped over back onto his feet, before whirling to face the other man, already launching another attack as he did. "Gum Gum Whip!" His leg was stretching further and further as it careened toward the still getting to his feet older man, sideswiping him, it rammed into his side hard, taking him along for the ride until they both slammed into the hull of the Black Cat Pirates ship, breaking through a good deal of the wood it was made up of with a crash, knocking up a bunch of dust in the process as well.

The sixteen year old watched the dust for any sign of movement, even as his leg returned to it's original length, he made no move to follow his opponent into the dust that had been knocked up. He realized how big of a mistake this was only a moment later, when he heard these words, "Outta The Bag Attack!" As a gust of wind was stirred up, all the smoke was blown away.

Luffy's eyes widened, as he realized what the bastard was doing once more. As he did though, another of the Black Cat Pirates lost their life, as they were carved up like a turkey. "No, no, NO!" He yelled, before running over to the only Black Cat Pirates that were still alive. Though, by the time he reached them, another four had died. "How many times do I have to tell you!? Stop it, you're not supposed to kill your own crew!"

No response was given, though the two new slashes carved into Luffy's back seemed like a pretty indicator that Kuro simply didn't give a fuck. Right after those were given to the devil fruit power having teen, the attacks on the Black Cat Pirates continued. He stood in the middle of them, and yet couldn't do anything. "Stop, I said, STOP DAMMIT!"

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero...and finally, all of them were dead. And all Luffy had been able to do was watch, eyes wide, as the last of the Black Cat Pirates were snuffed out. He stood there, staring at all their bodies, their blood all over the place, not even so much as flinching as he began to get sliced up once more. Several slash marks were added to his body, and he didn't even seem to know it was happening, his eyes only focused on the bodies and all the blood.

The slashes continued to plague the shore, as the ground itself began to get carved into, as well as the ship of the Black Cat Pirates, the wood being cut into in several different places, leaving dozens of grooves in it.

When Kuro finally came to a stop, he did it just a few feet from Luffy, becoming visible next to a particularly mangled body. Once in sight, Luffy's eyes were locked onto him, his rage all too clear, not only on his face, but in his eyes as well. "You...no matter what happens to me, no matter what I go through in my life, no matter what this world throws at me...I will never, EVER, become a man like you!"

The false butler pushed up his glasses while replying. "It's not a matter of will, someone like you, can't ever be like me. You're too naive, too delusional about how this world works, from the very beginning it was only a matter of time before you died. It was simply bad luck that you met me, and came upon your fate so early in your journey on the sea."

"Ugh! I am so sick of the shit that comes out of your mouth!" Luffy shouted, as he rushed the now wild looking man.

"What was that you brat!?" Kuro yelled back.

Not bothering to answer, Luffy just threw a right straight once he was close enough, which Kuro sidestepped of course, counterattacking with a right claw sweep, which the rubberman reached toward and stopped, doing so by catching him by the wrist with his left hand. With the position he was in, Kuro could capitalize, so he tried to do just that, bringing his left Cat Claw down. Before the blades could make contact with the intended target's skin though, said target kicked his wrist to try and butt away the attack, while it didn't work the way he intended, his arm did come to a stop with his foot pressed against it, both trying to push the other's appendage away. Deciding to use that to his advantage, Luffy jumped off the ground with his remaining foot, using his hold on Kuro's wrist and pushing against his arm with his foot, so as to keep him from falling on his ass. In that position, he wasted no time in decking the darkly dressed man in the chest with a hard left kick, causing him to skid back several feet from the force of it, while the rubber pirate landed firmly back on his feet.

Luffy was quick with the follow up attack, throwing his right fist towards his opponent, it stretching to reach him, though as it made it to him, he had come to a stop, and had just enough time to catch the arm by the wrist. That didn't turn out to be the best idea, as Luffy let his body snap back towards his hand, rather than the other way around, causing him to come flying towards Kuro. Not seeing this coming, and the teen coming at him too fast for him to really react, the former pirate captain was forced to take a fist directly to the face, with added force from the speed of Luffy snapping towards him. The blow would have knocked him to the ground, if it wasn't for the fact that Luffy kept him up by wrapping his legs around the man's own legs, and forcing them to keep him up, just as he had wrapped his arms around his torso at this point, so as to keep him from clawing at him.

Nevertheless, the impact had been great, so he was still sent skidding back roughly a dozen feet, Luffy's body going right along with him...except for his head, his neck stretching to keep his noggin where it was. Once his enemy had come to a stop, the rubberman threw his head back, before letting it snap back towards his body, it coming back with great speed. Kuro, still recovering from the punch in the face, barely had time to notice what was coming, before he was hit head on by it, "Gum Gum Bell!", as Luffy rammed his head into Kuro's own, a loud, resounding thonk being heard from the impact, said thonk being as loud as a bell, it was similar in the way it sounded as well. The other lens of Kuro's glasses was broken upon impact, just as the frames were knocked off his face, and his head was busted open. He was also sent to the ground, as Luffy unwrapped his limbs and let go of him right after impact, so the momentum from the attack put the man flat on his back.

The hatless straw hat teen stood where his feet had hit the ground, only about two feet from the floored Kuro, and watched, as he struggled to his feet, a good deal of blood running down his face as he did. "I will not be beaten by some brat! I was once the feared and respected Captain Kuro, I cannot lose to a stupid kid! My plan cannot be foiled...by the likes of you!" He finished as he was finally standing again. "Right here and now, I will kill you, and put my plan back on track!" He then performed the steps necessary for his signature technique. "Pussyfoot Maneuver!" He vanished the moment the last syllable of the technique's name left his mouth.

Luffy didn't bother moving, as he knew just where his opponent would appear. And just as he thought, Kuro appeared behind him, bringing his right Cat Claw down, so as to cut his enemy into ribbons. The sixteen year old avoided this by lifting his right leg into the air, causing the blades to just barely nick his leg as they passed by, before colliding with the ground. The rubber pirate then brought his right leg down, stomping down on the five blades as hard as he could, before Kuro could pull his arm back, breaking them all off upon impact. "My Cat Claw?!"

Taking advantage of the position he was in, Luffy cocked his left arm back, before shooting it forward and slamming his fist into Kuro's face, knocking him flat out onto his back, and causing him to slide back several feet as well from the force of the blow.

Neither of the men spoke, as Kuro climbed to his feet once more, struggling a bit this time as well, though managing to do it without exerting too much effort. He was panting at this point, nearing his limit. Add that in with the fact that one of his Cat Claws was missing ninety eight percent of each of the five blades it had, only decently sized slivers of them remaining, and it equaled out to the fact that this battle was drawing to a close, and fast.

Kuro began to move forward then, slowly walking until he reached his glasses, coming to a stop once upon them, picking them up and placing them on his face after doing so. Only a moment after that, he pushed them up on his face, so that they wouldn't fall off. Then, his head shot up, as he made eye contact with Luffy, all his rage, bloodlust, and the slipping grip he held on sanity, they were all quite visible within his eyes. "I...will...EVISCERATE YOU!" His head fell then, the man hanging it as he began to wobble back and forth, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, over and over again, repeatedly. He did this for several moments, before he once again, vanished. "Outta The Bag Attack!"

Luffy's eyes widened a bit, as he realized something. "That move of his...it's just like Gramps Shave technique. No, wait...it's different. There's a lot more steps to it. That's it, the noise I've been hearing, it's him kicking the ground!"

Slashes began to be carved into everything around once more, though this time they came quicker, seemed more violent, and hit a wider variety of areas, the cliff, the slope, the shore and the boat to be more specific. And yet, Luffy didn't move or falter, as he stood there, patiently waiting. This was because now that he knew what his opponent was doing, he could follow him, and thus was able to tell where he was. He didn't have to wait long, as soon enough, Kuro was withing grabbing distance, so that was just what he did, he reached out and grabbed ahold of the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates mid attack, getting him by his left wrist, which controlled his only remaining intact Cat Claw. Luffy stopping him in his tracks like that, when no one was supposed to be able to see him, let alone keep up with his movements, needless to say, Kuro was shocked as all hell. "What the!?"

"That technique of yours, it has too many useless movements." Luffy stated bluntly.

"What!?" Kuro questioned incredulously.

"All those extra, unneeded steps, they make it easy to track you." He elaborated.

"Why you arrogant little brat!" Kuro shouted in rage.

"Now that I know how your little trick works, it's time to end this."

"End this!? I'm the only one who'll be ending anything! A brat like you could never stop my plan!"

"We'll see about that!" Luffy delivered a strong right to Kuro's gut then, causing him to nearly double over in pain, as well as hock up a bit of blood as he did.

Letting go of the false butler's wrist, Luffy took a step back, before kicking his right leg up, stretching it high into the air as he did.

"My...plan..."

Stopping at the twenty five foot mark, Luffy then began to bring his leg downward, it coming in fast as it did, it retracting back to it's original length causing it to gain this great speed.

"...cannot...fail."

"Your plan, is over!" Just as his leg returned to it's normal length, he rammed the heel of his foot down into the back of Kuro's skull, forcing him face first into the ground. "Gum Gum Battle Axe!" Upon impact, the man was rendered unconscious, his lenseless frames broke in half, his nose was broken, his skull was cracked severely, nearly being broken open from all the force of the attack, and it was lights out for him. Kuro was finally down for the count.

Luffy placed his foot back on the ground, as he watched his downed opponent, looking for any clue that he might get back up. When he saw none, he turned and walked away, heading towards the bodies of the Black Cat Pirates as he did. He came to a stop before them, and proceeded to mourn them, seeing as no one else would.

**Luffy vs Kuro**

**Winner: Luffy**

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**


	18. The Going Merry

Ranger Station Charlie: Well, the pill is actually something that has a long lasting effect on the story. It's connected to a few plotlines, and will show up again. All I'll say for now is that it won't show up in every battle, and that it's connected to a very powerful person. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear. Thank you for your feedback regardless though.

Tonlor: Well thank you very much. :) As for the crewmate question, I have two more members in mind for becoming straw hats. One for pre-timeskip, one for post. I may or may not have more than those two join the crew. As for who they are, I'll give you one, very vague, hint. One of them has been dubbed in English, therefor has an English voice, and the other hasn't, so doesn't have an English voice yet. Those are long lists, so good luck figuring out who they are my friend. XD

Revan3363: Thanks. And neither can I, as I've been looking forward to writing the Arlong arc since the beginning.

Mazzax: Why thank you. I wanted them to actually be able to have a real fight, but Luffy was already too much for him in the original timeline, in this one...well you saw, it ended before it even began. So I've had that little fail safe of his planned since before the timeskip to where they became teenagers even happened. Also don't think that drug he had is just gonna go away, it's not gonna just be swept under the rug. It's here, someone had to have made it, someone had to have gotten it to Kuro, and it will be important later on. As for Luffy and crew turning Kuro and Arlong in...well, you'll just have to keep reading to find out. And yes, Zoro will call Nami on her shit, that is inevitable at this point.

Finally, I agree, Nami's mentality that Luffy can't handle Arlong frustrates me as well, however, she grew up with Luffy, she knows just how fragile he once was. While she does know he's got the strength of monster, she did see him at his weakest so far, and she spent the rest of her years growing up with Arlong, a real monster. Which is why she fears for him so much, because what is someone as kind, caring and naive as Luffy, against a beast like Arlong? That is her state of mind. Her objective is the same as it was in the original timeline, only...her worst fear has been replaced. Her absolute worst fear...is to watch as Arlong tears Luffy apart. That is why she acts the way she acts.

Would have had this chapter up about a week ago, but I moved and now have incredibly shitty internet. Anyway, next chapter's here, hope you all like it. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

The trio of Zoro, Nami and Usopp watched intently as Luffy fought Kuro, none of them speaking, simply watching as the battle occurred. Said battle certainly didn't drag on, only lasting a few minutes, nevertheless, it was intense, as Kuro slowly continued to lose his cool, until he snapped, and began to slice up everything. He even hit the boat a few times, causing it to rock mildly every time he did. It was only a few moments after that though that the battle drew to a close, Luffy smashing Kuro's face into the ground with an axe kick, claiming victory over him as he did. And once he had, he went over to the bodies of the Black Cat Pirates, and sat seiza, lowering his head and closing his eyes as he did, clearly mourning their deaths.

That didn't bother the three however, as they all saw their deaths as pointless and wrong as well, or at least, the way they were killed, and by whom. Though the latter reasoning was just Zoro.

Usopp was rather concerned about something else, and it showed, as he asked, "Di-did Luffy kill him?"

Zoro shook his head at that, "No, Luffy's not really one to kill."

The look Usopp gave him at that had him elaborate on his answer. "It's not that he sees it as wrong necessarily, rather it's just no one's ever committed an act that he felt deserved death." Little did the swordsman know of how the rubber teen had, and still felt about the deceased Bluejam...

"Deserve Death? Luffy doesn't think Kuro deserves death!? He slaughtered his entire crew like it was nothing!" Usopp remarked heatedly.

"Luffy intends to become the Pirate King and live a life of freedom, he's got the mindset of a pirate, not a hero. Luffy didn't know those guys, nor did he care about them, the only reason he got so angry was because they were supposed to be that claw bastard's crew. And a captain, at least in Luffy's mind, is supposed to protect their crew, no matter what. If he was ever to truly feel like killing someone, they'd have to hit him close to home, where it hurts." The green haired teen explained, only bothering to do so since the long nosed teen was now a part of their crew.

"He planned to kill Kaya! Are you telling me that's not personal enough!?"

"He didn't succeed, now did he?" Zoro responded simply, it being obvious as he did that he had no wish to debate the matter. It was the way Luffy was, end of discussion, no further explanation was needed.

That obviously wasn't the answer the sniper wanted to hear though, the teen grunting in anger in response to it, before teeth grit, he climbed off the boat onto the shore, nearly face planting as he did so.

"Not going to bother stopping him?" Nami inquired, finally speaking as she did.

"Nope." He said bluntly, before turning to pick up the unconscious Kaya.

The orange haired teen rolled her eyes at that, "Of course."

* * *

Usopp caught himself before his face met the sandy rock surface of the shore, nearly hitting it as he climbed down off the boat. He stumbled forward, nearly tripping, as he hurriedly made his way to and up the slope. Once he had, he took a quick look around, his eyes searching for something in particular, catching sight of it only a moment or so after he had begun looking. He limped over to the object, picked it up, said object being the flintlock pistol Kaya had brought with her, before scrambling back down the slope, towards Kuro.

As he made his way down, everything that had happened over the past twenty four hours played itself over and over again in his head. "That scum...he ruined her life!" His grip on the pistol tightened then.

Once back down at the shore, he took position over Kuro's unconscious form, Zoro and Nami, now off the boat and on the shore as well, spoke to him about what he was about to do, as it was all too obvious.

"It's over Usopp, put the gun down." Nami said, trying to calm him.

"He's already half dead as it is, it's not worth it." Zoro remarked.

He didn't even regard them, his eyes harder than they had ever been before, his hatred for this man clear, as he took aim at the back of the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates head, his finger already on the trigger, ready to fire the weapon and end the despicable man's life. Just before he could however, Luffy, who wasn't even looking in his direction, spoke up, "Are you willing to use that pistol?"

Usopp's eyes went over to Luffy then, fire and anger in them, as he asked, "What?"

"Now that you've drawn that pistol, are you willing to use it? Are you willing to pull the trigger? Are you willing to put an end to someone's life?"

Usopp's grit teeth showed then, his aggravation quite clear. "How could you ask me that!? You heard what he's done to Kaya! He murdered her parents, has kept her bedridden with poison, manipulated her feelings and planned to kill her so he could take everything she had, the bastard not feeling the slightest bit of guilt as he tried to carry out her assassination! And you saw the despicable acts he's capable of, he slaughtered his entire fucking crew right in front of your eyes! Can you honestly say he doesn't deserve it!? Can you honestly say he deserves to live!?" The sniper demanded of his raven haired friend.

Luffy's eyes remained closed and he remained still, as he responded with, "I can't."

"Exactly! This goddamned sunuva bitch is the lowest of the low, there's no redemption for someone as cold blooded as he is, he should just die! That's why...that's why I'm going to kill him!" Usopp turned his attention back to the limp form of Kuro then, dead set on putting an end to his existence.

"But can you live with the consequences of this decision? Can you live with yourself with someone else's blood on your hands, even if it's his?" Luffy asked his friend, the somberness of his words striking a chord in the long nosed teen.

Usopp's hands began to shake, his aim becoming unsteady, as he tried to pull the trigger. He was there, ready to finish it, but he just couldn't get his body to do what he wanted, his finger wouldn't exert the amount of pressure required to fire the gun. Trying to fight back the tears of frustration that began to build up, he attempted to re-steady his aim, to no avail. The shaking only grew worse, before he could no longer keep ahold of the gun and it fell from his hands, clattering against the ground, as he collapsed to his knees and began to sob. "Why? Why can't I do it? After everything he's done to Kaya, to me, what he had planned to do, I still can't bring myself to...to kill him! Why can't I pull the trigger!?" Tears made their way down his face, as he slammed his fist into the ground, not caring about the pain it caused him, or the nasty bruise it left on his hand.

Luffy's eyes opened then, the teen standing up, having finished mourning the deceased pirates, before turning around and making his way over to Usopp as he did. He came to a stop before his friend, their eyes meeting as the slightly older one looked up, "You can't do it because it isn't in your nature. You aren't a killer Usopp, that's not who you are."

"B-b-but why!? A-after all he's d-done, I want him gone, forever! I want him to d-die, so that he can't ever hurt Kaya again! I want to do it, I want to shoot him, so why, why can't I pull the trigger!?" He pleaded for the answer to this question.

"I already told you, it's because you aren't a killer Usopp. You're not like Kuro, and you aren't like me and Zoro either, you're you. And you can't bring yourself to end someones life, at least not like this. That doesn't make you weak though, it just makes you different, understand?"

Usopp couldn't help it as more tears began to roll down his face, as his friend's words had resonated with him. They made things...clearer for the long nosed teen. He took the rubber teen's hand as he offered it, letting him pull him to his feet, before embracing his younger friend.

As they hugged, Zoro and Nami made their way over to them, not having interfered before because they didn't want to set Usopp off, and reminding them that Kaya needed medical attention, and so did Usopp. So, after Zoro had returned the straw hat to it's rightful place atop Luffy's head, the four made their way away from the shore and to Syrup village, or rather three, as Luffy stayed behind, saying he had something to do and would catch up with them.

With three on their way, Luffy turned to Kuro walking over to him and grabbing ahold of him by his shirt, pulling him up and off the ground as he did, before proceeding to chuck him onto his ship, hard, causing said vessel to shake violently, as the force of Kuro colliding with the mast cracked it and forced it forward a bit, the ship beginning to slowly drift out to sea. "If you didn't want your name to be known, then you shouldn't have become a pirate!" Luffy shouted as he did this, despite the fact that Kuro couldn't hear him at the moment.

Luffy turned away then, before quickly jogging after his friends, so as to catch up with them.

* * *

A figure shrouded by the black cloak they wore hid in the shadows, watching as the three carried off the unconscious fifth teen, and the final teen threw Kuro onto the ship before leaving himself. With all of them gone, the figure left their hiding spot and began making their way over to the pile of bodies created by Kuro. Walking through them, the figure looked at them all, shaking their head as they did, finding what the man had done down right despicable. Taking their attention off the bodies and bloody shore, they came to the edge of the shore and jumped up onto the boat as it slowly drifted away from the island.

Coming to Kuro's side, the figure knelt down to get a good look at him, having to roll him over to do so as he had landed on his front side after being tossed onto the boat. Doing this reveaed his severely bloodied face, barely any of it free of the sticky red substance, some of it even coating a few locks of the man's hair. Combine that with his eyes, which were rolled back into his head, the man, for all intents and purposes, looked dead. "Luffy did a real number on this guy, I wouldn't be surprised if he was actually dead, he certainly looks the part."

The figure reached down and checked the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates pulse then, to find that he was indeed alive. "Huh, he really is still alive. That just makes things easier for me then." After saying that, the figure pulled a needle and vial from his cloak, before opening the dark haired man's shirt up, revealing his bare chest in doing so.

Seeing as he was unconscious, he didn't even feel it as the mystery figure punctured his chest with the needle, beginning to draw his blood only a moment later. With how close the needle was to his heart, it was a very dangerous way to take blood, however it would guarantee the best results, not to mention the figure didn't much care if Kuro died or not. Having filled the vial, the figure removed the needle from the man's chest, disregarding the small hole in his chest, as having done it just right, it wasn't bleeding very heavily after having pulled the needle out.

The person took a quick look at the blood filled vial then, making a remark while doing so, "Now to run some tests and see if my hunch is right or not." Done with Kuro, the figure stood, the hood of the cloak shifting a bit, revealing a bit of blonde hair, as they smirked and hopped off the boat, landing firmly on the shore as they did. "I'm done here, time to report back to Dragon."

* * *

"What? You can't be serious, there's no way!"

"We're telling you, it's true!" Pepper insisted, the child covered in bandages, just as his two friends were.

"Yeah, Klahadore's actually Kuro, captain of the Black Cat Pirates! He had planned on killing Kaya and taking her money, just like Usopp said!" Onion put forth.

"And Usopp and his friends are fighting him and his crew as we speak!" Carrot added.

"You kids must be delirious from all the physical trauma your small bodies have endured, that just can't be true!"

"IT IS! GO AND SEE FOR YOURSELVES!" The three cried together, desperately trying to get the villagers to believe them.

"They're not lying nor delirious, what they're saying is completely true." The bloody Merry managed to rasp out between shaky breaths, as he stumbled into the village, all the citizens being out there because the kids had tried to run off and help Usopp.

"MERRY!" The entire village cried together in shock and worry at seeing him all bloody.

"Who did this to you!?" A few of them demanded, as they caught him before he could hit the ground after collapsing.

"It-it was Kuro. Usopp was telling the t-truth. He really is a pirate, and he's been planning on killing Mrs. Kaya from the very beginning. He had us all fooled, only Usopp had been able to see past his ruse. And we...we turned on the poor boy, taking a blood thirsty killer's side over his. All he wanted to do was to protect us all, to protect Mrs. Kaya...and we punished him for it." The man began to cough up blood then, the doctor calming him down quickly afterward.

The whole village was shocked into silence at that, said silence lasting for several long moments, before one of them spoke up, "He...he was just trying to protect us, and w-we...we beat him and ran him out of the village for it. What kind of people are we?" He asked himself and the rest of the village bitterly.

"We have to go help him!"

The entire village rallied behind that within moments, all of them eager to apologize to the long nosed teen and help him defend the village. Just before they could go marching off however, they spotted four figures entering the village, quickly recognizing them as Usopp and his three friends, the green haired one of them carrying an unconscious Kaya. The sight of the five made them go silent once more.

Luffy, having caught up with the other three, took Kaya from Zoro, as they made their way into the village, towards all the villagers that were out. Noticing them all, they began to rush forward, both Usopp and Luffy calling out as they did, "Hurry, Kaya needs help! She's been hurt! She needs a doctor!"

That kicked all the villagers into high gear, as they hurriedly went to prepare the clinic for Kaya, the ones not doing so hurrying the four along with the unconscious girl, so as to get her the medical attention she needed as fast as possible.

Since everyone was moving quickly, Kaya was in a bed and being treated by the doctor in less than sixty seconds, while all the villagers began to profusely apologize to Usopp outside, while he waited to hear whether she would be okay or not.

* * *

Half an hour passed, before finally, the doctor came out of the clinic.

Usopp shot to his feet then, covered in bandages from the neck down to the waist, plus a large bandage on the side of his head placed over where he had been nicked by Jango's chakram, the nurse having treated him while he waited for Kaya to finish being treated. "How is she doctor?" He asked, his concern evident.

"Physically she's fine, but emotionally...she's a mess son. It's not good for her to get worked up like this with her illness, but I just can't calm her down."

"I-I think I might be able to." Usopp said, wanting to help her anyway possible.

"By all means, please try. I'll keep everyone out of your hair so that you two can talk."

Nodding his head, Usopp made his way into the clinic, the doctor closing the door behind him.

He found Kaya sitting up in bed, bandaged up herself, crying her eyes out. "Kaya?"

Upon realizing he was in the room, Kaya began to sob even harder. "I'm so sorry Usopp! I didn't believe you, while I believed every word out of his lying mouth! I let him fool me, like he's been fooling me my whole life! I'm so stupid! And look what happened because of it! The kids almost died, and so did you! This is all my fault! I'm the worst friend in the world! All you've ever done is try and help me, and I accuse you of being as bad as that...that monster said you were! I'm so very sorry!"

Usopp was taken back by her words, but was quick to respond nevertheless. "That isn't true! It's not your fault this happened! It was that damn jerk Kuro's! He manipulated you, toyed with your feelings! How could you ever be expected to see something like this coming from your best friend!? It's my fault you didn't believe me, I-I'm always lying, so no one ever believes a word I say, not even my friends. Don't you see!? If you're looking for someone to blame, blame me! If I hadn't been such a liar, people would have believed me, and kept Kuro from getting to you! If I had been stronger, I would have been able to protect you myself! It all comes back to me, it's my fault you got hurt!"

She shook her head furiously at that, "NO! That isn't true! You tried to protect me! You did protect me! If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead! Don't you see Usopp!? This isn't your fault! You did more than you should have had to, and you got hurt for it! Look at you, look at what you endured for me! You're the best friend a girl could ever have!"

"K-Kaya..." Was all the teen could say, completely taken off guard by this.

"You've been there for me since I was fourteen! You told me stories to make me laugh, you kept me company when I was so lonely, you always believed I would make my dream of becoming a doctor come true, you never gave up on me, even as my illness grew worse and my health declined! And now, you risked your life to protect me from the person I foolishly trusted over you, even though what he said and I said must have hurt you so bad! You...you're the best Usopp! An-and...I love you!"

Usopp was rendered completely speechless at that, his eyes wide in shock, his heart racing, as his mind struggled to process her words.

Her eyes were closed tight after blurting that last part out, unsure of whether he felt the same way she did or not. Silence filled the room, as the sniper failed to reply, each moment causing the blonde girl's hopes that he returned her feelings to grow smaller, her hope dimming. After an agonizing dozen moments, the sound of footsteps reached her ears, so she dared to open her eyes, wondering where he was going. Once they were open however, she was wrapped in his arms, as he embraced her, tears threatening to fall from his eyes as he did. "I-I love you too Kaya."

Despite all the sadness she felt, a smile crossed her face as she returned the embrace, as she had Usopp, and he loved her, just like she loved him.

* * *

The villagers had been talking to Luffy, Zoro and Nami since Kaya had begun being treated, the two males having also received treatment from the nurse who helped Usopp, bandaging them up as well. The three did their best to explain everything that had happened to the village folk...or rather, Nami tried, as Luffy just said that he had kicked Kuro's ass and that Usopp had been brave, while Zoro simply grunted and told them that they didn't need to know.

By the time Usopp went in to console Kaya, the villagers had drifted away from the three, leaving them relatively alone. Once that was the case, Nami made it clear she didn't want to be anywhere near Luffy, giving him a look that could almost kill, before stomping off, having done so after he tried to see if she was okay.

Zoro's eyes narrowed after Nami's retreating form, his anger clear. He moved to follow her, ready to confront her about how she was acting, when Luffy held his arm out in front of the green haired swordsman, stopping him from doing so. "Don't Zoro." He said simply, sure his friend would understand.

"Luffy, she-" He tried to protest, but Luffy quickly shut him down. "Just don't. That's an order." He stated, turning his head so their eyes could meet, so he could see just how serious the straw hat pirate was. Begrudgingly, Zoro agreed to do as he was ordered. "Fine."

Sure he wouldn't bother Nami, Luffy put his arm down and walked off.

* * *

The next day...

Luffy sat with his legs crossed and his back against the wall of one of the buildings in the heart of Syrup village, while he watched Nami as she spoke with some of the village's shop owners, a false smile present on her face as she did so. They were discussing supplies, and of course, berris, not just how much what was needed cost, but how much of a discount they could procure, seeing as they had been the ones to stop Kuro and the Black Cat Pirates, and that they couldn't ask for a reward seeing as Usopp and Kaya were their friends.

This conversation lasted a few minutes, before they seemed to finish up, and the shop keeps wandered away. With them gone, Nami turned, and as she did Luffy caught her eye, and the two made eye contact. Once they did, her smile fell away, as did any pretense of her being the slightest bit happy, while her eyes showed just how much contempt she held for her so called 'captain', hell, the look she was giving him all but screamed, 'I hate you'. Luffy in turn stared back with an cold, almost unfeeling expression, the one that showed just how much emotional damage she had caused him, yet it retained the never give up factor, as in his eyes, it was clear to her that he wouldn't let her go, not until he had liberated her from whatever was plaguing her so.

She was the first to turn away, huffing as she did so and beginning to march away, hoping that he didn't see the tears that began to build in her eyes before she did.

He did, in fact, see them, though to him, they were there because of him, he was the one who kept causing her to cry. "I keep making her cry. I'm making her miserable." That thought continued to echo in his mind, as pulled his hat down to cover most of his face, lowering his head as he did so, while a memory he had been trying to forget for a long time played itself in his head.

* * *

_A six year old Nami lie on the ground, clutching the area just above her right wrist, as she cried in pain. Luffy stood over her, his eyes about as wide as they could be, his shock more than evident. "Nami? Nami!?" He wasn't sure what had happened, one minute they were playing, the next she was on the ground screaming in pain, as she clutched at her forearm, just above the wrist._

_He kneeled next to her to try and see what was wrong, "Nami, what's wrong?", but when he so much as grazed her wrist, she screamed even louder. Besides nearly making the boy jump, her even louder cry caused his fear and panic to spike, they rose to even greater heights as he realized that her wrist had a nasty purple, almost black bruise on it._

_Her pain wasn't going to just subside on it's on, that was more than obvious, her tears coming down even faster than when she had first cried out, so, not sure what else to do, Luffy tried to pick her up, but the movement caused her wrist to jerk, which just made her scream even louder, hurting Luffy's ears as she did. He made sure not to drop her though, putting her back down gently. "Luffy, help me, it hurts!" She begged of him between her yelps and yells of agony, as she had never felt physical pain like this before, where just shocks of agony shot through her with the slightest movement of her wrist._

_Not able to move her without hurting her, but not willing to leave her alone, Luffy began to cry out along with Nami, tears beginning to roll down his face as well. "Help us! Somebody help us! Nami's hurt, she needs help!"_

_That's when Nojiko, Zoro, Ace, Kuina and Sabo came into the decent sized clearing the two were in, looking like they had booked it over here. "What's going on!? We heard screaming!" Sabo said._

_"Nami!" Nojiko gasped, before rushing over to her injured little sister. __"What happened!?" She asked worriedly, as she knelt next to her sister, and tried to figure out where she was hurt, it becoming evident when she took a moment to see she was clutching at her arm, her hand lying just above her wrist, less than an inch from actually touching it._

_"I-I don't know, we were playing, when she su-suddenly just started screaming."_

_Nojiko looked up at the younger boy then, her eyes threatening, as she spoke, "You mean you were the one who hurt my sister?"_

_"No! I would ne-never hurt Nami! We were just wrestling, like we always do!"_

_"You moron! She's not a monster like you, she doesn't have your freakish strength! You were too rough and hurt her!"_

_"No, no-I...I..." Thinking about it, Luffy realized just how wild their roughhousing had been. All he could remember was her laughter and all the fun they were having, so he wasn't sure when he had hurt her, or what he did that caused her injury, but it dawned on him that he had to have been the one to do it, after all, there was no one else around. "I-I-I didn't mean to..." Luffy whimpered, as his tears increased, while a tidal wave of guilt and shame washed over him._

_Nami bit her lip to keep herself from making any more pained noises, as she forced herself to calm down a bit, doing so just enough so that she could speak. "I-It's okay Lu-Luffy, it's not your fa-fault."_

_When Nojiko looked like she was going to refute that, one of the other four finally interjected then, Sabo being the one to do so, "We should really get her to a doctor."_

_Nojiko was quick to agree._

* * *

_Luffy stood outside the door of the doctor's home, waiting anxiously for news on Nami's condition. Only the doctor, Nami, Nojiko and Bellemere were allowed inside, which was why Luffy, as well as Zoro, Ace, Sabo and Kuina stood outside._

_They stood out there for awhile before finally, someone exited the house. It was Nojiko, the blue haired girl walking out with her head down, tears running down her cheeks, closing the door behind her as she came out. She just stood there for a minute, her quiet sobs barely being picked up by the others._

_"Is Nami gonna be okay?" Luffy asked, his hope that she was going to be evident in his voice, as well as his eyes._

_"You..." Nojiko's head shot up then, the anger in her eyes as clear as day. "This is all your fault!" __The young rubber boy was understandably taken back by those words, though he thought the same thing._

_Nojiko marched over to him then, before hitting him as hard as she could in the face, as if the punch would hurt him, which it, of course, didn't. It did catch him by surprise however, causing him to stumble back a step from the blow. __"You stupid fricking asshole! Do you know what you did!? You broke her wrist, near shattered it! Do you have any idea what that means!?" She shouted in his face, even though it was turned a bit from being hit as hard as she hit him._

_Not waiting for him to respond to that, she explained to him what that meant, once he had turned his head back to face her, not caring in the slightest that tears were building in his eyes. "You damaged her wrist so bad that it'll never work right again! You've ruined her dream!"_

_Luffy's eyes widened as far as they could at that, tears beginning to fall once more from his eyes, as the gravity of the situation hit him. 'That strength, you're not even human are you!? Freak! Demon! Monster! Devil! Your were too rough and hurt her! Freak! Demon! Monster! This is all your fault! Freak! Monster! You've ruined her dream! Monster! Monster! Monster! Monster!' All these words swirled about in his head like a hurricane, as he felt like he was being swallowed up by a dark hole of sorrow and regret._

_That's when Luffy couldn't take it anymore, and shoved past Nojiko, rushing to the door of the doctor's home, intent on getting in there. As she tried to follow after him, clearly still angry, Ace came up behind her and restrained her, as Sabo took up a spot in front of her, near the door, as Luffy went in, so in case she broke free he could cut her off._

_Zoro stood directly in front of her, as she struggled against Ace, and spoke to her. "You need to stop, now." He stated hardly and bluntly. "Not all of the blame is Luffy's, Nami played a part in this as well. She's known how strong he is since the first week of meeting him, she knew something like this might happen." _

_Ace continued for Zoro, "Aside from that, the last thing he needs is you rubbing the fact that he hurt her in his face. You saw what he did for her back at Porchemy's place, he'd do anything to protect her."_

_Sabo was the one to speak then, "Can you imagine how much it hurts for him to know he was the one to hurt her so bad, and that by doing so he might have ruined her life's dream? Your lucky he didn't break down from hearing that. Speaking of which, she could still recover, you didn't have to say it like her dream was ruined no matter what. Did the doctor say that was the case? Do you know for sure that her wrist'll never work the same again?"_

_Begrudgingly, she admitted that she didn't know for sure._

_Surprisingly, it was Kuina who was the one to talk next. "Think about your sister and how she feels, would she really want you making Luffy feel like crap? If she doesn't blame him, maybe neither should you."_

_All of that seemed to do the trick, as Nojiko stopped struggling, slumping down into Ace's arms as she did. "I...I guess you guys are right."_

* * *

_The Doctor's, Bellemere's and Nami's eyes were immediately on Luffy as he burst in, the door swinging closed behind him, as he came over to the bed the young orange haired girl lie in, though she sat up once he came in. He was crying uncontrollably as he hugged the young girl, being careful of the cast she wore as he did, and began to apologize profusely, as well as begging her not to hate him. "Nami, I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! So, so sorry! Please forgive me! I didn't mean to hurt you! Don't hate me! Please don't hate me! I'M BEGGING YOU, DON'T HATE ME!" He broke down into nothing more than unintelligible sobs then._

_Nami was speechless for a moment, completely unsure of what to say to all that. Words seemed to come to her soon enough though, as she registered everything he had said. "Hate you? Luffy, I could never hate you." She said soothingly and sweetly._

_Some words finally managed to break through those incomprehensible sobs of his after she said that, though not all at once. "B-bu-but your wrist, I bro-broke it so bad, that i-it wo-wont work any-anymore, I-I ruin-ruined your dr-dream!"_

_"What, how'd you come up with that? No Luffy, you didn't break it that bad. I don't even think it's possible to break it that bad. And even if you did, I still wouldn't hate you."_

_"Re-really?" He asked on both subjects, her wrist not being that bad, and her not hating him even if he destroyed her dream, sounding so very unsure as he did._

_Nami gave him a very sweet smile, before hugging him, pulling his head to her chest as she did, being able to do so with one arm since he offered no resistance, trying to get him to stop crying as she did. "Of course. You're my best friend, I'll never, ever hate you, I promise."_

_Bellemere had to fight back the smile that so desperately wanted to cross her face, as the scene before her was just too cute. "Those two'll make such a good couple when they're older." She thought to herself._

_"That wrist of hers was broken pretty bad, but you shouldn't fret Luffy, as it wasn't nearly as bad as you're thinking it was. Add that to the fact that you got her here quick, and that she's still a growing girl, and in a few months time, her wrist'll be as good as new. You won't even know it had been broken, mark my words." The Doctor said kindly._

_"See? I'm fine Luffy." __Luffy's only response was to hug her just a bit tighter._

* * *

Luffy was pulled from the reliving of this memory back to the present, by none other than Zoro. "Hey Luffy, Kaya wants to see us at the shore."

He nodded his head at that, "Right." He rose to his feet, pushing the straw hat back into it's regular position, and began to walk in the opposite direction that Zoro was going. Which said green haired swordsman quickly noticed and changed direction to follow after his captain.

They walked out of the village into the forest surrounding it, moving through the brush without a word spoken, not even a noise heard. Soon enough, they came upon the graves of the Black Cat Pirates, Luffy and Zoro being the very ones to bury them, coming to a momentary stop after seeing them. There were no tombstones, only disturbed earth, letting anyone who looked at the spots know the dirt had been dug up and then put back. The rubber teen's thoughts wandered then..."My sadness, my hurt, they're affecting Zoro. It's only a matter of time before they begin to affect Usopp as well. I can't do this, I can't just wallow in my sorrow, otherwise I'll bring my crew down with me. I have to be happy...or at least, I have to appear happy, otherwise..." He cut his own thought off, continuing along another track of thought. "It doesn't matter anyways, Zoro could probably see through an act like that. Though he can't seem to see that Nami's hiding something...I should still be careful though, I don't want him blowing up at her because of my hurt. I have to...I have to stop thinking about it, or I'll go crazy. I just have to focus on the here and now, otherwise..." His thoughts trailed off then.

He shook his head clear off all his thoughts, before beginning to walk once more, Zoro following behind him as he did, not saying anything despite the fact that he could tell his friend was thinking about something.

* * *

"Whoa! Look at it, it's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed happily, referring to the ship that was anchored in front of him, chuckling after doing so.

Zoro just smirked at the ship, also liking it.

It was modest ship, of caravel class with a sheep figurehead .

Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Merry and Kaya all stood at the same shore the three former had arrived at two days ago. The latter three had been waiting at the shore, which was why only Luffy and Zoro were surprised to see the ship, the orange haired girl having already seen it at this point.

"It's a caravel, and her name is the Going Merry. I designed her myself you know." Merry stated quite proudly.

"And we'd like for you to have her, as a gift, for saving us." Kaya said, smiling sweetly as she did.

"What, really!? Your giving it to us, this is our ship!?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Uh huh." Kaya confirmed, nodding her as she did.

"YES!" Luffy shouted. "We finally we have a ship!"

He rushed over to Kaya and proceeded to hug her, being careful so as to not aggravate her injures as he did. "Thanks so much Kaya!"

She giggled at that, returning the hug as she did. "You're more than welcome Luffy. I had planned on giving her to you from the beginning, but since all of you saved me, I thought it would make a nice gift to give you for doing so. Since I was already giving her to you though, I also have something else for yo-"

Luffy let go of her then, as he firmly said, "Nope. Nothing else, there's no need. We're friends, you don't have to give us things for helping you. Since you planned on giving us the ship from the get go though, we'll be taking it." He chuckled once more at that.

Kaya chuckled as well, her smile widening just a bit as she did. "If you say so Luffy."

Nami climbed onto the ship, as Zoro and Luffy prepared to do the same, before they could however, the sound of Usopp screaming caught their attention. "AHHHHHHH! SOMEBODY STOP ME!"

Turning to see what was going on, they would see Usopp, with a comically large backpack on his back, rolling down the slope at a decent speed, gaining more speed every moment as he tumbled down. Rolling down the slope and onto the shore, he came racing towards the ship, before he could slam into it though, Luffy and Zoro raised one foot each, right for Luffy, left for Zoro, and stopped Usopp in his tracks, his face ramming into the soles of their footwear and forcing him to a complete stop. "Thanks." He managed to say, despite the feet in his face, before falling back onto his green backpack, his body completely off the ground from doing so.

"You're welcome." They both said in unison.

With that, Zoro then came over to the long nosed teen and took the backpack off of him, causing him to unceremoniously fall onto his ass as he did, before the green haired man climbed onto the Going Merry, holding the huge backpack with a single hand as he did. Luffy followed after his first mate, climbing onto the ship and getting a good look at it while actually on it, saying to Usopp as he did, "We're ready to set sail whenever you are Usopp."

Usopp appreciated that Luffy was giving him the time he needed to say goodbye, as the captain was supposed to decide when the ship set sail, not the marksman. Getting to his feet, he dusted himself off, before turning to Kaya, smiling at her as he did. "It's finally time for me to set sail, to become a brave warrior of the sea."

The blonde girl nodded her head at that, "I know. And to be honest, I'm sad to see you go. However...I'm happy you finally get the chance to live your dream."

"Kaya..."

"Really Usopp, I'm okay. Now go and work to achieve your dream, and I'll do the same." Her sweet smile widened then.

"Kaya...you're the sweetest, you know that?"

She blushed at that.

"Don't you worry Kaya, I'll be back one day, and then I'll have thousands of stories to tell you, and these ones will have actually happened too." His smiled widened as well then.

Turning away, he prepared to climb onto the ship, just before he could though, Kaya caught his attention once more. "Usopp, wait!"

Turning to face her, he was caught by surprise as her lips met his, the blonde girl kissing him, showing him through action that she loved him and would wait for him until he got back.

As she pulled away, she left a completely stunned Usopp, who was almost light headed from the shock combined with the pleasant feeling and taste of her lips.

She giggled at the silly look on his face, before saying, "Now go Usopp, go and reach for your dream."

He nodded his head for a good few seconds, before he snapped out of the daze he was in from the surprise kiss, and verbally responded, "Y-yeah, I will. Thank you Kaya, for everything."

With that he turned back to the ship, and climbed aboard, setting foot on deck moments later.

"Zoro, raise the anchor!" Luffy ordered gleefully.

The swordsman did just that, the sail already unfurled and the ship ready to go.

Within moments, a gust of wind had the Going Merry moving away from the shore. As they slowly moved farther and farther away from Gecko Island, Luffy and Usopp both turned to look out at the island and Kaya, waving as they did and bidding her farewell. "Goodbye Kaya!"

She waved back at them, her smile widening, as she bid them farewell as well. "Bye you guys!"

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

If you guys are wondering when that childhood flashback took place, it was sometime after the Porchemy Incident, but before Ace's tenth birthday, which was why there was no mention of it in any of the childhood chapters. In other words, it took place in one of the many time gaps, the ones I never showed anything of, in their childhood. And yes, I know, that part after Luffy entered the doctor's house and we stayed with Zoro, Nojiko, Ace, Sabo and Kuina didn't make too much sense since it was his memory, but just roll with it, no he didn't remember that since he didn't see it, but I showed it so you knew what happened with them.


	19. Cook Wanted

midnightscar17: When? Soon enough, soon enough. The exact time? Not gonna tell you. Sorry my friend, you'll just have to wait and find out for yourself.

Tonlor: I really am glad you and everyone else reading seems to be enjoying it so much. As for the new crewmates, I'll give you one last hint, this one almost as vague as the first. One of them is male, the other is female. There, no more hints after that one though. XP Anyway, it's good that you and a few others like the Usopp and Kaya stuff, though I'm sorry to say you won't be seeing too much of it from here on out, seeing as he's set out with Luffy and all.

F-ckthesystem125: Hey there, missed you last chapter. As for you not knowing what's going on, you really have no idea, mwahahahaha! Like my evil laughter? XD

Now then, onto the next chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

It had been about a day since the four had left Syrup village, Luffy's and Zoro's wounds were all but forgotten, no longer even wearing bandages, only having changed into spare sets of clothes that looked exactly the same as the outfits they wore the day before. Where they had gotten copies of the same outfit and where they kept them was a mystery all it's own. Usopp on the other hand, had packed a bunch of brown overalls in that green backpack of his, so it was clear how he was wearing the same outfit from before without any of the slash marks that had been ripped into it being present. He still wore bandages unlike the other two guys, though they were under his overalls, so only the ones wrapped around his shoulder could be seen. Finally, Nami had actually changed her outfit, now wearing a pink short sleeved shirt with white trim and the initials WB, though the b was lowercase while the w was capital. She wouldn't say what the letters stood for. Besides that, she now sported short brown boots and wore the same skirt from before.

It had only been hours since their latest misadventure on what was known as treasure island, where they met a strange little man stuck in a box named Gaimon, who had been protecting the supposed treasure the island held, as well as all the bizarre animals that he had befriended there in the twenty years he had been there. He had gotten separated from his friends, getting stuck in the box that was now a permanent part of his body, and had been left behind. Once he realized that the four weren't after the treasure or the animals, he warmed up to them quickly. After they got to know each other, the four had decided to help the strange man, helping him get to the treasure he had sought after for the past two decades. Only...the chests this treasure was supposed to reside in had been completely empty.

Gaimon had been upset, but not shocked, as for the longest time, he had known they would be empty, he had felt it for years. Nevertheless, he was very grateful to the four teens, thanking them for not only helping him clear that up, but also to see that all the animals he had befriended were his true treasure. Which is why he declined their offer to come with them, to get off that island, as he wanted to stay there and protect the animals from poachers who would love to get their hands on them. So, they said their goodbyes and departed.

As of now, Luffy sat out on deck, painting what was to be there pirate flag, while Zoro napped a few feet away, Nami sitting in a beach chair, relaxing as she read a book and tried to block out the presence of the other two, despite being out on deck with them. Usopp was soon out on the deck as well, carrying a box full of cannonballs toward the cannon he had rolled outside. He put them down beside it, letting out a deep breath he didn't know he had been holding, causing Zoro to crack one eye open and to look up at what was going on in doing so.

That's when the three teens had their attention caught by their captain, as he proclaimed, "Hey guys look, I finally finished our pirate flag." He smiled as he brandished it to them, presenting a disfigured and distorted skull and crossbones with a straw hat on top.

"Uh...Luffy, is that really going to be our pirate mark? I mean, it certainly is scary, that's for sure, but it looks like a child drew it." Zoro pointed out, getting off the floor and onto his feet as he did.

"Yeah, nice work nimrod." Nami commented harshly, scoffing as she did, earning herself a glare from Zoro, and a slightly confused look from Usopp.

"Luffy, you should have told me. I could have had that thing done an hour ago. Here, let me do it." Usopp said, after having turned his attention back to Luffy, moving over to the straw hat teen as he took ahold of the brush and grabbed another piece of black cloth.

And in a matter of minutes, he had a perfect straw hat jolly roger drawn up, well painted up, presenting it to the others with pride. "So, whatcha think?"

Luffy clapped excitedly for a few moments, congratulating Usopp as he did. "That is so cool, great job Usopp!"

"It is really good." Zoro agreed, a smirk crossing his face.

Nami didn't comment.

"Okay, now paint that on the sail too Usopp!" Luffy ordered happily.

"Right away Captain!" Usopp replied.

* * *

Twenty minutes later and it was done, Usopp coming back down to the deck, panting a bit from getting it done as fast as he could. "There, done."

"Oh yeah! Our ship is finally complete, we have a flag and everything!" The raven haired teen exclaimed almost giddily.

"Nice work Usopp." Zoro complimented.

"Thanks." Usopp said in response, before looking back over at the cannon he had wheeled out. "Oh, I almost forgot." He made his way over to the metal construct and loaded it up with one of the cannonballs. "I was going to get some target practice in, before I got caught up in painting that is." He looked back at his captain then, "Care to join me?" He asked.

"Sure!" Luffy said, before coming over to the cannon as well. "Ooh, I wanna go first!" He stated to his long nosed friend.

"Go right ahead."

Since he didn't seem to mind, Luffy took aim and fired, missing his target, a rock formation in the distance, by a good ten to fifteen feet of distance. "That was way off the mark." He remarked, despite it being his own shot. "Alright, your turn Usopp."

"Now, let me show you how an expert does it." The marksman said cockily.

"Just what are you two idiots up to?" Nami asked, sounding quite annoyed as she did.

"Cannon firing practice." Luffy answered simply.

Readjusting the aim and lighting the fuse, after Luffy had loaded another cannonball into it of course, Usopp waited until it went off and the dark ball went flying. And, showing that he had a right to be cocky about his marksman skills, the cannonball hit the rock formation dead on, breaking it in half, the top half falling into the ocean along with the large metal ball. "Awesome! You hit that thing on the first try! I knew I was right to make you our marksman!"

"Impressed?" Usopp asked somewhat arrogantly.

"You bet! Your twice as good as you were back when we first met!" Luffy said, praising his friend.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Zoro admitted.

"Heh heh." Usopp chuckled, rubbing the bottom of his nose with his index finger, soaking up the praise as he did, enjoying it immensely.

While he was indeed impressed with Usopp's marksmanship, Luffy couldn't help it as his eyes wandered to Nami, and his mind was filled with thoughts of her, his attention becoming solely focused on said orange haired girl. He walked away from Usopp and Zoro then, as the former began talking about how he was the best shot on his whole island, and perhaps the best shot in the East Blue and that he had experience beyond his years.

Luffy came to where Nami sat, coming up from behind her and resting his head over her chair and on her shoulder, catching her attention immediately by doing so, a sad look on his face. The look took her by surprise, and without thinking about it, she asked, "Luffy, what's wrong?" No bite to her tone, her concern showing through.

"Your hair." He responded simply, hiding the elation he felt at the fact that she wasn't being nasty with him at that moment.

"M-my hair?" She asked, confused.

"It's not long anymore, you cut it. Why? You looked really cute with long hair." He stated bluntly, beginning to pout as he did, playing with a few strands of her hair all the while.

She was baffled by that simplistic statement, rendered speechless for a few moments, before she realized she was slipping and needed to cover her slip up, and quickly. Her mood visibly shifted, as her face took on a look of anger and irritation, the tone of her voice reflecting the same feelings, as she said, "You have got to be kidding me! That's what you're over here pouting about!? My fricking hair!? Just what is wrong with that head of yours!? And why are you so close!? More importantly, why are you touching me!? Get your hands off of me!" She shouted, before socking him hard in the face, knocking him back off the chair and flat out onto the deck, catching the other two guys attention as well.

Zoro had a deep scowl set into his face as this happened, his anger rising, wanting to give that witch a taste of her own medicine.

Usopp on the other hand, was confused as all hell. "This is the girl Luffy always talked about? She certainly doesn't act like it. I mean, how could he be in love with her if she treats him like this all the time?" He couldn't help but wonder to himself.

Nami saw that the other two were staring at her after what she had done, and barked at them, "What!? Got something to say!?"

When it looked like Usopp was actually going to speak up, Zoro stopped him, shaking his head as he did. "Don't, Captain's orders."

Usopp bit his tongue at that, wanting so bad to say something to the orange haired teen, but not wanting to disobey an order from his best friend, his captain.

Luffy simply lie on the floor, not making any move to get up after being knocked to the ground. He felt no pain, and there was no mark left where she hit him, proving she hadn't hit him as hard as she could. And while her words hurt him deeply, so deeply that he had to fight back tears, the fact that she hadn't left a mark on his face, or caused him any pain, proved she didn't mean it. Just as he had thought, she was lying. She may not love him...but she didn't hate him, not like she said she did, otherwise she would have hit him a lot harder than that.

His smile had fallen away, but regardless, he got to his feet, gazing at the back of Nami's head for several seconds after getting up, before turning to the other two. His eyes met theirs, but no words were spoken. He simply stared at them for several moments, before turning and walking away, heading into the dining room as he did, Zoro and Usopp following after him shortly afterwards.

With those three gone, Nami let out a sad sigh, as she did her best to fight back tears. "I hate having to say those kinds of things to him, I hate it so much."

She stood then, closing her book as she did, before folding up her chair and then heading down into the cabin, going for the girl's room as she did.

* * *

Not even ten minutes later, Luffy and Usopp came rushing out onto deck, as the sound of things being smashed reached their ears. "Get out here ya damn pirates!"

The two immediately saw the cause of the noise, a man had boarded their ship, and had kicked a couple of barrels into each other, smashing them in the process.

This man was of average height, had tanned skin, a black kanji tattoo on the left side of his face and short black hair. As for what he wore, some sun glasses, a dark purple shirt with a blue hoodie over it, a pair of grey pants and light black boots. He was also brandishing a sword, looking quite angry as he did so.

"Hey, what the hell? Who are you?" Luffy asked, as Usopp eyed the man, wondering if they had another fight on their hands.

"You think you guys can just kill my partner and get away with it!? Because I won't let you!" He cried, leaping forward, raising his blade and bringing it back down for a downward slash.

Seeing as he was aiming for Luffy, who was on the next level of the ship, one having to take stairs to get up to the dining room, he would also hit the railing that was supposed to keep people from falling down onto the deck. Aware that if he allowed the man to finish his attack, he'd cause damage to the ship, Luffy acted, doing so by throwing his fist forward, it stretching to reach the man, where it hit him in the chest and sent him flying back into the mast, causing it to shake a bit from the impact. "Don't you go wrecking my ship! I just got it!" He shouted.

The man hit the mast, yelping in pain as he did, before groaning as he fell face first onto the deck, the impact somehow not breaking his sunglasses. "I lost...by a hair." He moaned, his face still against the floor as he did.

Zoro walked out of the dining room then, leaving his swords behind as he did. Upon seeing this man, face down on the deck, he said, "Huh, what are you doing here Johnny?"

The man turned over onto his back then, looking up from his lying position to see the green haired teen, as he had recognized his voice and wanted to see if it was really him, and it was. "What, Big Bro, it's you." He got to his knees, before getting to his feet, as his surprise became clear. "Why are you on a pirate ship? What's going on around here?" He questioned.

"Hey relax, you know exactly why I'm on this ship."

The blank look he received in return from the man, whose name was Johnny apparently, told the swordsman that he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Are you telling me you forgot what I told you?" Zoro questioned in return. It quickly became obvious the man had, so the eighteen year old explained to him why he was on the ship. "Didn't I once tell you and Yosaku about the boy I called captain? About the promise he and I made, to become the best together, as pirates?"

Despite wearing his sunglasses, you could tell the man's eyes widened considerably at those words. "You mean the guy you pledged your loyalty to is the captain of this ship?"

He received a nod from the green haired teen at that.

Johnny quickly took a look around then, until his eyes caught sight of the same person who had just put him on his ass, his eyes managing to widen even further as he realized who the straw hat pirate was. "You mean that's Luffy?" He asked, pointing at the raven haired teen as he did.

He received another nod from Zoro then.

"Oh, are you a friend of Zoro's? Hi, my name is Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" He exclaimed cheerily, as he walked down onto the deck.

Johnny could only stare at the teenage pirate after what he said, in complete bafflement of how easily that statement had rolled off his tongue.

Zoro quickly caught Johnny's attention once more though, as he inquired three things, "Anyway, how'd you get on this ship? Is everything okay? And where's Yosaku?"

As Johnny proceeded to explain, leading his friend to the small boat he had that was hooked onto their ship as he did, Usopp slipped inside to tell Nami what was going on.

* * *

When the two came out onto the deck, they saw Luffy, Zoro and Johnny looking down at a man, that they assumed was this Yosaku two of them had been talking about, laid out on a blanket on deck.

He was of average build and height like his friend Johnny, and wore an outfit that consisted of a black shirt with a long green coat over it, plaid yellow shorts, revealing his unshaven legs, light black boots and, most peculiarly, red headgear. And while said red headgear would definitely attract attention, the two who had just come out onto the deck's attention was on the man himself, as he was in terrible shape. His skin was discolored, he was bleeding badly from his abdomen, the wound the substance was coming from wrapped in bandages, and was bleeding from his nose and the top of his head as well, wherever the blood was coming from was hidden by the the thing he wore on his head though. His eyes were also rolled back into his head, and were slightly bloodshot.

"He looks like he's in pretty rough shape." Luffy stated.

"What's wrong with him?" Zoro inquired, shocked by the man's state, and unsure of what was wrong.

"I don't know." Johnny answered, sounding helpless as he did. "Up until a few days ago, he was healthy and full of life. But now, he keeps fainting, and getting really pale, and I have no idea what's causing it!" He sounded like he was about to cry at that point.

"His teeth have been falling out and his old wound opened up and started bleeding. He just got worse and worse, I didn't know what to do!" Tears began to stream down his face then, not being able to hold them in anymore.

Nami had heard all she needed to and proceeded to head back inside the ship, to the storage room. As she did that, Usopp came over to Johnny's side, standing by Zoro and Luffy as he did.

"So, I thought that maybe we'd just rest on a little island, and that it might help him. But then...a cannon ball came flying from this ship!"

Both Luffy's and Usopp's jaws dropped a bit then, their eyes widening as they realized what they had done. Bowing slightly in apology, they said in unison, "We're very sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough." Johnny bluntly put forth. "Isn't that right...partner!?" He asked of the sick and possibly dying man he was kneeling down next to, beginning to sob as he did.

Silence set in then, though was broken soon after. "Big Bro, give it to me straight...is he gonna die?" Johnny asked fearfully.

Zoro seemed uncertain at that question, a worried look taking place on his face.

That's when Nami returned to the deck, carrying a barrel of limes as she did, walking by her three fellow pirates, muttering while doing so, "You're all so dumb."

"Hey, watch it!" Zoro warned.

Nami didn't pay him any heed, as she knelt down next to Yosaku herself, placing the barrel by his head, and took a quick look at him. After she was sure she was right, she stood and took a step back, before saying, "Just as I thought, he's got scurvy."

"Scurvy?" Johnny questioned.

"Back up." She told Johnny and Zoro, who did as she said. "And you two, begin juicing those limes, and make sure as much of it makes it into his mouth as possible." She ordered of Luffy and Usopp, both of whom jumped to do as she said, wanting to help this guy.

"If we aren't too late, then after he gets enough of that lime juice, he'll be just fine in a few days." She said, giving the tanned man hope.

"What!? Really Big Sis? Really!? Thank you Big Sis!" He exclaimed happily, as he got a little too close to comfort, almost getting spit on her face.

She quickly shoved him away, saying as she did so, "Please, don't call me that, it sounds so dumb." She sighed then. "Besides, I'm not a magician. This used to be a hopeless disease that plagued sailors, and we just know how to deal with it now. Scurvy is caused by a simple deficiency of plant derived nutrients, like vitamin C. Back in the old days they couldn't carry fresh fruits and vegetables because they couldn't store them, we know better now."

"If a little is good, then a lot is better." Luffy said, as he and Usopp shoved and packed limes into Yosaku's mouth until they couldn't fit anymore in.

"You're so smart Nami." Luffy commented, turning to her and smiling as he did.

"No, you're all just morons. Every sailor should know about scurvy, the fact that none of you do just proves how stupid you are." She stated, a little more harshly than was needed.

Yosaku managed to spit out all the limes in his mouth, sitting up as he did, his face covered in lime juice. After wiping it off, he lept to his feet and began to dance with Johnny, both of them repeating, "Hurray Hurray!", over and over again.

"The nutrients cured me!" Yosaku proclaimed.

"Now you're all better!" Johnny proclaimed.

"Idiots, you can't heal that quickly!" Nami screamed, her infamous shark like teeth appearing once more.

The two came to a stop then, standing side by side, as they formally introduced themselves in a serious manner. "Allow us to introduce ourselves." They said in unison.

"My name is Johnny." Johnny said.

"And I'm Yosaku." Yosaku said.

"Together, we're the baddest pirate bounty hunting duo in the world." They spoke once more in unison.

"Big Bro Zoro there used to hunt bounties with us." Johnny explained, letting them know how the swordsman knew them.

"Glad to make your acquaintance." Yosaku stated.

"Small world. I never thought I'd see you guys again." Zoro said, walking forward and taking ahold of Johnny's hand as he did.

"So, I'm guessing that's the guy you told us about? The one you had planned on joining up with from the get go?" Yosaku inquired, gesturing to Luffy as he did.

"Yep, that's him." Zoro confirmed.

As Yosaku then put his hand forward, he stumbled, and proceeded to fall face first onto the deck, passing out as he did.

* * *

After putting Yosaku in the men's bedroom so he could rest, the four pirates and one bounty hunter convened in the dining room, Luffy having a snack while they were in there.

"Let this be a lesson to you." Nami said to the other four, referring to Yosaku and his condition.

Zoro sighed at that. "Yeah, this is the kind of trouble you run into when you choose a life on the sea."

"Which means when we're at sea, we really gotta think about how we can get the right amount of nutrients with very little food." Usopp put forth.

"It's absolutely necessary that someone on this ship knows how to do that." Nami added. "In other words, you guys need a cook. Otherwise you'll end up with scurvy in no time."

"A cook huh?" Luffy asked, as he finished off the loaf of bread he had been eating.

Usopp was quick to agree with that. "That's a good idea, we should definitely get a cook. And if we do get a cook, it means we'll be able to have yummy food even when we're out at sea."

"A cook? I know just the place." Johnny said, interrupting them.

Before he could go any further with what he was going to say however, Luffy cut him off, saying this as he did, "Nope, I already have us a cook. And I won't accept anyone else but him for the position."

"Huh? What do you mean you already have us a cook?" The long nosed teen questioned.

"And why did you wait until now to tell us about him?" Nami asked.

Zoro was quiet, though his attention was focused solely on Luffy, also wanting to know what he was talking about.

"I mean just that, I've already found our cook. And it just kinda slipped my mind is all. I had planned on picking him up right before we left for the Grand Line, but I guess we can pick him up now." He stated simply.

"When and where did you even meet this guy?" The orange haired girl inquired.

"Well, you guys remember how Gramps took me on that tour of the East Blue?"

Nami, Usopp and Zoro all nodded their heads at that.

"That was when I met him."

The straw hat teen then proceeded to tell them the story...

* * *

_Twenty Seven Months Ago..._

_Day One_

_"Oh, is that so? I see..., alright, I'll be there as soon as possible." Garp hung up then, placing the speaker back on the receiver of the transponder snail he was using, the thing going off with an audible 'Click'._

_The grey haired marine sighed then. "Damn that son of mine. Just what the hell is he doing back here in the East Blue?" He wondered to himself. "More importantly, why now? I finally get a month off to spend with my grandson, and this happens!?" He thought bitterly._

_Sighing for the second time, he walked out of his cabin, coming out onto the deck of the small marine vessel, where he saw his grandson leaning against the railing, looking out at the ocean. _

_Seeing him, he had to fight the urge to sigh for a third time, thinking to himself as he did, "I only have a week left before I have to return to Marine Headquarters, and most of it's gonna be spent dealing with Dragon showing back up here in the East Blue. And now I have to find somewhere for Luffy to stay until I get this cleared up. If I leave him alone on island though, he's bound to get into trouble and, more than likely, recruit someone else into that damn crew he's so set on forming. And it'd take too long to get him back to Dawn Island. So where can I drop him off at, where he'll be safe and won't be able to fill any other kids heads with that pirate nonsense of his?"_

_Garp thought this over for several long moments, before he came to a decision. "That's it, that's where I'll take him. And perhaps that damn bastard can drill some sensibility into Luffy's head while he's there."_

_So, the decision made, the man known as the fist made his presence known to his grandchild. "Luffy."_

_Turning his head to look at his grandfather, the fourteen year old asked, "Yeah Gramps?"_

_"I'm afraid our little voyage is at it's end. The next stop we make will be our last, and once we're done there it'll be time to head back to Fusha."_

_"Wait, really!? Awesome!" He said excitedly, turning to face the vice admiral as he did. _

_"What was that!?" The aging man shouted. "That eager to be rid of your old grandpa are you!?" He cocked his fist back then._

_"Crap!" Was all that Luffy could say, before he was clobbered by the large man._

* * *

_Luffy had a sour look on his face as his grandfather stepped off the marine vessel, the teenager following after, onto the floating establishment they had just dropped anchor at. "Damn geezer, always hitting me." He grumbled to himself._

_"What was that?" Garp questioned._

_"Nothing!" Luffy said hurriedly, not wanting to get hit again._

_The much older man simply nodded at that, before turning his attention back to the front door of the floating place. As he did, Luffy finally took in his surroundings, realizing how cool it was. "This place is just floating in the middle of the ocean...what is it anyway?" The curious kid asked his violent guardian._

_"This is the floating restaurant Baratie, it's owned by-"_

_Garp didn't even get to finish his sentence, Luffy dashing inside the place as soon as the word restaurant left his mouth._

* * *

_"So cool!" Luffy exclaimed, now inside the establishment, looking around at everything, gaining the attention of all the customers as he did._

_He didn't pay the eyes of the men and women any mind, in spite of the fact that they all looked like a rough bunch, pirates most likely, as he began shooting from one table to another, drooling over all the delicious looking food as he did._

_During the middle of one of his runs from table to table, he ended up running into someone larger than he was, stumbling back after slamming into him. "Oh, I didn't see you there, my bad." He said, before actually looking at the person._

_His eyes were soon on the person though anyway, said person being an older looking man with blonde hair, though most of it was hidden by his much longer than average chef's hat. Two things that quickly stuck out were that he had a long braided mustache, with a large tuft of blonde hair growing from his chin, and a peg leg, the leg substitute replacing his right one. As for what he wore, a white chefs uniform with an apron to match, a pair of black pants, a black work boot on his left foot and a blue ascot._

_"Just what do you think you're doing slobbering all over my customers food boy?" The man asked evenly._

_"Uh..." He looked around once more then, to see that he had indeed left a considerable amount of drool on every table he had visited. Looking back at the man, he smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head not covered by his hat as he did, while offering, "I'm sorry. I'm just really hungry."_

_"Is that so?" He questioned in response to the teen's statement._

_The raven haired fourteen year old's stomach growled real loud then, backing up his words in doing so. "Yeah."_

_Before the man could say anything further to that, his, as well as the whole restaurant's attention, was called to the entrance, as Garp threw the doors open. "Hey Zeff!"_

_The blonde man scowled at the sight of the vice admiral, though it was a light one, it was a scowl nevertheless. "What is it Garp?" He asked straight up, knowing that the best and easiest, not to mention the fastest, way to deal with the marine hero was to be blunt, and get to the root of whatever he was there for, which was why he didn't mention he was disturbing everyone's meal._

_"I got a favor to ask ya." He stated bluntly, coming to a stop in front of the man as he did._

_"A favor?"_

_"Yeah. I'm out with my grandson on a tour of the East Blue, but I just got an urgent call from a marine base nearby, and I need to get over there quickly, so I can't drop him off back home."_

_"And?"_

_"And, I need you to take care of him until I finish with this business of mine."_

_"Wait, you mean I'm gonna be staying with this old guy?" Luffy interjected._

_The man, apparently known as Zeff, looked back at the fourteen year old then, taking his appearance in, before turning his head back to Garp. "So that's your grandson huh, makes sense. I see the resemblance, plus he's just as blunt as you are. I'm betting that's not all you have in common either."_

_Garp chuckled at that. "Come on Zeff, it's not like I can take him with me. Besides, I was hoping you could drill some sense into that head of his."_

_The blonde man quirked an eyebrow at that, intrigued._

_"I've been trying to shape him into a great marine, but he's got it in his head that he wants to be King of the Pirates, and won't change his mind about it no matter what I do."_

_"Hey!" Luffy yelled. "I will become King of the Pirates! It's my dream, and I won't let anyone stand in the way of it, not even you Gramps!" He proclaimed loudly, causing all of the patrons to begin laughing at him, just as loudly._

_A scowl crossed the rubber boy's face then, as he looked around at all the people, his anger and irritation clear. "Hey, stop laughing!" They didn't even bother to act like they cared, continuing to laugh at him. "All of you, shut up! I'll become King of the Pirates for sure, just you watch!" He stated as if it was fact._

_"Don't go around spouting that crap boy!" Garp shouted, slamming his fist down onto the top of Luffy's head and ramming him into the floor, causing him to yelp in pain as he did._

_He was quick to jump back up, not deterred in the slightest by the bruise forming under his hat. "It's not crap, it's the truth! I will be the Pirate King one day, that's a promise!"_

_Despite the fact that all his customers began to laugh even harder at the boy, Zeff couldn't help the grin that crossed his face. "This boy...he's something else, I can already tell." That grin of his widened further, as, out the corner of his eye, he saw that a certain blonde haired teen was in the room, having been there since just before Luffy said he'd be the Pirate King the first time._

_Garp, in spite of the urge to viciously assault all the ruffians for laughing at his grandson, did not even bother to say anything to stop the laughter. This was because he hoped, even though he knew it would do no good, that it would somehow help the teen realize becoming a pirate was a bad idea._

_"I already like the kid." Zeff stated to no one in particular. "Sure, I'll take care of him for a few days." He finally told Garp, agreeing to do him this favor._

_"Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've gotta get going." He turned and walked towards the exit then, looking back to say only this, "Do what you can Zeff, please.", before proceeding to exit the __restaurant._

_Zeff knew what he was asking of him, he was asking him to convince the boy to give up on becoming a pirate. However, he had no intention of doing so. He did intend to put him through the ringer though, to make sure he had what it took to become a pirate of great caliber. And if during that process, he managed to make him reluctant to become one, because of how hard it was, then so be it._

_"Sanji!" The blonde teen known as Sanji came to Zeff's side after he called his name, "Yeah, what is it?" He said without even coming close to dropping the lit cigarrette in his mouth._

_"Take that kid over there and get some food in his belly. Then show him the ropes, he's going to be working with us for the next few days, so he'll need to know how things work around here."_

_Sanji looked over at said kid, the raven haired fourteen year old currently about to engage in a fist fight with several men, one of them being twice his size and width, though that didn't seem to intimidate him in the slightest. He sighed then, "Alright geezer."_

_Following his boss's orders, he went up the the straw hat teen, and proceeded to drag him away from the group of men, taking him into the back._

* * *

_Luffy had protested at first, seeing as he was being dragged away from a fight, but the moment he was sat down and a plate of food was put in front of him, he shut up and began to eat. He finished the plate quickly, before asking for another helping. "Seconds please!"_

_The blonde teen turned back to look at the straw hat kid then, surprised by how fast he had finished his food and was ready for another plate. As he did, Luffy finally took in his appearance._

_He was a few inches taller, had somewhat short blonde hair, which was brushed over his left eye, blocking it from sight completely, leaving only his right one visible. And, most noticeably, the eyebrow of his that could be seen was swirled. As for what he wore, a short sleeve black shirt and some jeans, a white apron over that, as well as a pair of black work shoes._

_By the time he had taken what his fellow teen was wearing in, he had taken his plate, filled it up and gave it back to him again. "There ya go."_

_The second plate was cleaned off faster than the first, Luffy asking for thirds right after finishing the food off._

_"Are you even tasting the food?" He asked Luffy. "Of course I am!" He responded._

_Shrugging his shoulders, the blonde took the plate and prepared to give his fellow teen another helping. "You must be really hungry." He remarked._

_ "Oh, can you get me fourths and fifths while you're at it please?" The rubber teen added to his previous request for food._

_Sanji turned back to look at him then, quirking his swirled brow as he did, looking somewhat comical because of it, wondering to himself how much this kid could really eat, while taking his cigarette out and exhaling all the smoke he had taken in._

_Shaking his head, he put the cigarette back in his mouth and got to fulfilling Luffy's request, soon bringing him three more plates in addition to the one from before with another helping added to it. "Eat up."_

_He didn't need any encouragement, for as soon as the dishware touched the table, he dug in. Halfway through the first plate however, he suddenly stopped, a good chunk of food still in his mouth as he did._

_Seeing this, Sanji's eyes widened slightly, as he thought to himself, "Does he not like my food?", the teen having given him food he had cooked himself this time, rather than what some of the other chefs had._

_Luffy's eyes were real wide, as, his mouth still full of food, he said, "This food is the best I've ever had!"_

_In spite of himself, Sanji couldn't help but let a large, almost shit eating grin cross his face at that. "You really like my cooking huh?"_

_Luffy nodded his head vigorously, before digging in once more with gusto._

_After swallowing several mouthfuls of food, he spoke up once again, "You must be the greatest cook ever!"_

_Sanji's grin managed to widen a little further then. "Well, I don't like to toot my own horn, but I-"_

_The blonde teen received a strong kick to the side of the head then, which knocked the cigarette out of his mouth and sent him flying into Luffy from the force of it, colliding with his fellow teen and knocking him over in his chair, the two sliding back and ramming their heads into the wall, the momentum finally dissipating as they did._

_"OW! What the hell was that for you damn shitty geezer!?" Sanji questioned heatedly, a lump forming at the top of his head from hitting the wall and a bruise present on the side of his head where he had been kicked, as he climbed to his feet. Luffy climbed to his as well, luckily having swallowed the food that had been in his mouth before being hit with the body of the blonde, so that no choking occurred._

_"Don't get cocky, you're not that good of a cook." Zeff stated bluntly and just a tad harshly, stomping on the lit cigarette as he did, grinding his foot into it, so as to put it out._

_"Screw you!" Sanji shot back._

_Ignoring his protege, Zeff moved close to the two boys and dropped a large stack of dishes into their arms, that they only now realized he had been holding._

_"Wh-what is all this?" Luffy questioned._

_"Your grandfather asked me to take care of you. However, that doesn't mean I have to do it for free. No, I'm going to make you work for your food and board."_

_"What!?" Luffy asked somewhat incredulously._

_"You heard me. Starting now, you'll work here until your grandfather comes back. And in return, you'll receive hot food and a warm bed. Now get to work brats!" He barked at them, turning to leave the kitchen, stopping at the door before turning back around, speaking as he did, "And just what are you doing in those clothes brat? Where's your uniform?"_

_"It's all torn up from that incident yesterday, you should know, you did it ya damn geezer." His apprentice shot back at him._

_Zeff hmphed at that, "Well then, I'll just have to get the both of you uniforms then." With that, he finally left._

_Luffy could only pout, as he and Sanji took the dishes to the sink and began to wash them. "Man, stupid Grandpa and his stupid tour." The rubber kid grumbled to himself_

_"So, I didn't catch your name." Sanji said, catching the dark haired fourteen year old's attention._

_"My name's Luffy, Monkey D. Luffy. What's yours?"_

_"Sanji, just Sanji."_

_Luffy nodded his head at that, before continuing to help wash dishes in silence._

_This silence lasted for about a minute, before Luffy broke away and quickly scarfed down what food was left on the table he had been sitting at, bringing the plates they had been on to the sink afterwards. Though Sanji was the one to break the silence. "Your dream is to become the Pirate King huh?"_

_"Yep, sure is." He answered back simply._

_"That's a fool's dream though, isn't it? I mean, Pirate King, how are you supposed to accomplish that? It's foolish."_

_"No matter how foolish it might be, or how many people tell me I can't do it, or how much Gramps disapproves and hits me for it, I will become the King of the Pirates! It's my dream and I will reach it, or I'll die trying!" He stated proudly and with confidence._

_That got Sanji to go quiet for a few moments, unsure of how to respond to such confidence. Finally, he settled on something. "Speaking of your grandfather, does he hit you like that every time you talk about your dream or becoming a pirate in general?"_

_"Gramps? Nah, he hits me a lot more than that. He just hits harder when I talk about wanting to be a pirate, or becoming one, or my dream of being Pirate King." He replied casually._

_"Geez, he sounds as bad as Zeff." The blonde thought to himself_

_"So why don't you stop?"_

_"Huh?" Luffy questioned, unsure of what was being asked of him _

_"So why don't you stop? Stop saying those kinds of things I mean. Just tell him you want to be a marine or something. Anything to get him to lay off a little right?"_

_The straw hat teen shook his head at that. "No way. Becoming King of the Pirates is my dream, I won't lie about it or deny it. I've said it to Gramps face on more than one occasion. And I'll continue to do so. I don't know why to be honest, it's just that...it's part of who I am, ya know? And I don't want to hide part of who I am."_

_"I understand." Sanji replied._

_Silence reigned once more then, before eventually, the blonde broke it once more._

_"You know, I honestly have no room to talk about your dream. My dream is just as foolish as yours is after all."_

_"Your dream? What is it?" Luffy inquired._

_Sanji's face lit up, as he asked, "Have you ever heard of the All Blue?"_

* * *

_Day Two_

_Luffy was fidgeting, as the white and blue uniform Zeff had him wearing was not only uncomfortable to the teen, but also reminded him somewhat of the standard marine uniform, which he didn't want to wear in a million years. "This thing is itchy." He complained to his fellow teen, as he began to scratch himself._

_Sanji chuckled at that, "Yeah, well, you get used to it." He found this funny because just a few hour earlier, Zeff had kicked their asses around like nobodies business, and not once did he complain about that, as it was supposedly training, but once he got put in the uniform he became quite whiny, as this wasn't the first complaint he had about the outfit. Having already said it was too tight, looked kind of dumb, and smelled funny._

_The two were currently gathering plates of food, preparing to take them out to some customers. Luffy, having been shown how to do it properly by Sanji, plus the lessons Bellemere taught him reminding him to be extra careful, managed to carry a platter with several plates on it without dropping it, though the whole thing did wobble from time to time. Nothing got dropped however, and that was all that mattered._

_After the two took the plates out and served them to the appropriate customers, they returned to the back, to the kitchen more specifically, as they waited for their next orders, Sanji lighting up a cigarette as they did._

_As they stood and waited, Luffy began to fidget once more, this time out of nervousness rather than uncomfortableness. Sanji noticed this of course, the fidgeting at least, and said, "I know you don't like the uniform, but you gotta suck it up. You'll be wearing it for awhile."_

_"It's not that." Luffy told him._

_"Then what is it?"_

_"Sanji...we're friends now right?" He asked hesitantly._

_"Yeah...why?" He asked in return, wondering what he was getting nervous over._

_"Well, I've got something to show you that might make you not want to be my friend anymore." The black haired kid stated, all the children that had rejected and scorned him coming to mind, as well as Usopp's reaction to when he first found out as well._

_The fifteen year old's visible brow quirked at that. "What are you talking about?"_

_"I...I ate a devil fruit when I was little, and now..." He fish hooked his cheek and stretched it out farther than humanly possible, saying as he did so, "...I'm a rubber man." He let his skin snap back into place then, going quiet as he did. _

_Sanji's eyes were wide at seeing this, shocked into silence, having heard of devil fruits but never actually seeing someone who had eaten one. Hell, he didn't even believe in them before, until Zeff set him straight that is. _

_"Will...will you still be my friend?"_

_That questioned managed to snap him out of whatever daze he was in, as he lifted his left leg, before bringing it down and bonking his fellow teen on the head, his hat in his room, not wanting it to get damaged or dirty as he worked in the kitchen._

_It was a light bonk, so as Sanji put his leg back down, all Luffy did was touch where he had been hit and asked, "Why'd you do that?"_

_"Stupid, something like that's not going to change the fact that we're friends."_

_"Really?" The rubber teen asked hopefully._

_"Really."_

_A large smile broke out onto Luffy's face then, "Thanks Sanji."_

_He smiled in return then, "No problem." He sighed then. "Now, let's get back to work."_

* * *

_Day Three_

_Sanji's nerves were wearing thin, as Luffy bounced around the kitchen, trying to get his hands on any food he possibly could, swiping anything he could off of customers plates before they were taken out to them. And seeing as how Zeff was busy, it fell to the swirly browed blonde to get him to stop, at which he had tried several times to no avail already._

_"Luffy, just cut it out already would you!?" He finally shouted at the younger teen._

_It had the desired effect, as he quickly came to a stop, his attention on his older friend rather than all the food being carried about. "What'd I do?" He asked obliviously._

_"Ugh!" The blonde groaned._

_"Hey Sanji, Luffy, get out there and take customers orders already!" A chef said, passing them as he did so, going to make another dish._

_Sighing, Sanji got Luffy to follow him out to the front, so they could do just that. "Come on Luffy."_

_Once out there, they waited on table after table together, taking orders, clearing dishes off and bringing food to everyone. Half an hour into this though, __they noticed a table they had cleared earlier now had new customers sitting at it, and when Sanji realized it was a table of pretty teen girls, all of whom appeared around his age or slightly older, hearts filled his eyes. "Ah, beautiful mademoiselles!" He shot over to their table so fast it took them a second to notice him, as he said, "How may I take you lovely ladies orders?", his voice going up an octave or so as he did._

_They giggled at his antics, and began to tell him what they all wanted._

_Luffy was left wondering why he had just been ditched. "It's just a bunch of girls, what's the big deal?" He asked aloud to no one in particular._

_Nevertheless, he let the blonde be, going on to help a few tables by himself as his friend flirted for a few minutes, before finally getting them their food. And as he brought it out and set it down, the aroma of it reached Luffy's nose, the dark haired teen making sure to get a good whiff of it as it did, allowing him to realize it was food Sanji had made himself._

_The fourteen year old began to drool, as it smelled so good, and looked even tastier than the dishes Sanji had served him before. He just couldn't help himself and rushed to the table, intent on devouring all edible things that rest on it. Just as he got there and was about leap forward and dig in, Sanji delivered a strong kick right to his face, knocking him back several feet and causing him to slam into a table and nearly knock it over, ending up hitting it and then rolling off of it._

_Quick to get back to his feet, he yelled at his friend, "What was that for!?"_

_"I won't allow any harm to come to lady." Sanji stated simply._

_"I wasn't going to harm anyone! I just wanted the food!" Luffy told him._

_"I won't allow anyone to steal food from a lady either."_

_"But I'm so hungry!" Luffy whined._

_"You're always hungry!" The blonde snapped._

_The whole restaurant's attention was on the two as they bickered, but said bickering quickly came to a stop, as one of the girls Sanji had been serving spoke up, "Hey handsome, don't worry, we're fine, as is our food. Now stop wasting time with that loser and hang out with us."_

_"Okay!" He said excitedly, hearts in his eyes once more, as he whirled to face them, moving almost like a noodle as he did. _

_"Hey, don't ignore me!" Luffy shouted, to which Sanji did just that, ignored him in favor of the ladies._

_This served to anger and irritate the rubber teen, "This guy..."_

_That's when a man, soaked to the bone and panting, stumbled through the door into the establishment. "Pl-please, ne-need f-foo...fo-food." He managed to get out, before collapsing face first onto the floor, his exhaustion clear._

_Obviously all eyes were on him, including Sanji's, the hearts gone from said orbs._

_Before anyone could say or do anything, Sanji moved, beginning to head to the back, completely ignoring the girl who asked him to stay, as she did so once more. "Hey handsome, don't go, stay here with us." Even with the help of the other girls, they still couldn't get the blonde to come back over to them, as he headed into the back and into the kitchen._

_He came back out a few minutes later with a plate full of food and a glass of water, bringing them to the man, who had been put outside by some of the other chefs, which allowed him to eat the food made for him without everyone's eyes being on him. Luffy followed after._

_The man dug in with the fork the blonde gave him the moment it was in his hand, scarfing down the whole plate rather quickly, proving he was starving like hell, gulping down the water afterward. Once he was finished, he looked up at the swirly browed teen with tears in his eyes, sitting down with his back against the wall forcing him to look up, "I'm s-sorry, but I don't have any money. I was shipwrecked and ended up-"_

_Sanji cut the man off, gesturing with his hand to stop, saying as he did so, "You don't have to tell me. I know how hard it is out on the sea without any food or water. As far as I'm concerned, i__f anyone's hungry they're a customer and are to be fed, money or no. So don't worry about the bill."_

_The man's tears began to fall then, as he got to his knees and then went to all fours, as he thanked him profusely, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much! I thought I was going to die!"_

_"No problem." He said simply, before turning back to head inside._

_He was stopped by Luffy however, the fourteen year old having seen the whole thing. "Sanji."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Join my crew!" He smiled real big as he said this._

* * *

_Day Four_

_"Nope."_

_"Please?"_

_"No."_

_"Pleeeeeaaaasssseee?"_

_"I said no."_

_"Pretty pretty please?"_

_"How many times do I have to tell you no!?" Sanji snapped. "I said no when you first asked me yesterday, I've said no every time after that and will continue to say no, which means, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I will not be joining your crew, understand!?"_

_Luffy pouted at that, "But why!?" He whined. "Why won't you join my crew?"_

_"Because I owe a debt to the geezer that owns this place that will take a lifetime to repay. And I refuse to leave this place until that debt has been paid in full."_

_"But if you join my crew and come with me on my journey, then we can find the All Blue together! You won't have to wait until I get back and tell you what it was like, you'll be able to see it with your own eyes!"_

_"As tempting as that is, the answer's still no."_

_"B-b-bu-but-but-"_

_"No buts! I'm not leaving this place, end of discussion!" Sanji snapped once more, this time more heatedly._

_Luffy's pout increased at that, "Hmph, you're just a big jerk." With that he turned away, though not bothering to move, the two in a cabin together so there was no one to bother them, just looking away from his fellow teen._

_Sanji merely rolled his eyes, before taking his cigarette out of his mouth and putting it out in the ashtray on the dresser near their beds, lying down on his after doing so._

_A long bout of silence passed between the two then, before Sanji finally asked, "So...this crew of yours, besides you, who's in it?"_

_Forgetting about the fact that he was angry with the blonde, the straw hat teen turned around to face him, a large cheesy smile crossing his face as he proceeded to tell him about who all had joined. "First there's Zoro, he's my first mate and swordsman. He's really cool and tough, and he dreams of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world! Then there's Nami, she's my navigator. She's really pretty and really smart too, and she dreams of drawing a map of the whole entire world!" To emphasize his point, he moved his arms out, gesturing to everything around him. "Finally there's Usopp, my marksman. He's really good at building stuff, almost as good as he is at sniping, he's a bit of a liar though. He dreams of meeting his dad and becoming a brave warrior of the sea!"_

_Seeing how excitedly he talked about them, Sanji couldn't help but want to meet them, a smile crossing his face. That's when he realized his fellow teen had said Nami and she, "Wait, you mean you got a pretty girl to join your crew?" He questioned disbelievingly._

_"Huh?" Luffy was unsure of what his friend meant by that, and that was clear to said friend._

_"You said a girl named Nami is a part of your crew, how did you get her to join?"_

_"What do you mean how did I get her to join?" Luffy asked, his confusion obvious._

_Sighing at that, he dropped it. "Forget it."_

_Shrugging, Luffy simply said, "Okay."_

_The quiet returned then, as the straw hat teen climbed onto his bed, getting relaxed as he did._

_"So...this Nami, what's she like?" Sanji suddenly asked._

_"Nami?"_

_"Yeah, tell me about her."_

_"Okay!" The fourteen year old proceeded to do just that._

* * *

_A few hours later and the two were out front, cleaning tables off. During the middle of one table in particular, their attention, as well as everyone else's in the restaurant, that only being the other cooks and fellow waiters since the lunch rush had just ended, was pulled to the front as Garp threw the doors open. "Luffy!"_

_Luffy sighed as his grandfather entered the establishment, "Looks like it's time to go." While he didn't enjoy the work, he did enjoy hanging out with Sanji, all the delicious food he got to eat, and the training he received from Zeff. And if he had to take food orders, clean dishes and clear tables to be able to enjoy those things, so be it. _

_"There you are Luffy." Garp remarked, as he came over to his grandson. "I've finished the marine business I got saddled with, we can go home now."_

_"Alright Gramps." Luffy said, not bothering to put up any fight since the old man was at least taking him back to Fusha this time._

_As the fourteen year old went into the back, heading for his cabin to change out of his uniform and back into a regular set of clothes, Zeff came out into the front to talk to Garp, and Sanji followed after his friend._

* * *

_Luffy was just slipping a pair of jean shorts on, when Sanji came into the room._

_"Hey."_

_"Hey." Luffy repeated, as he grabbed a red shirt and slipped it on, before placing his hat back on his head, having taken it off earlier._

_The sadness in the room coming off of Luffy was more than evident to the blonde, even if he wasn't crying._

_"Looks like it's time for you to leave." Sanji said, stating the obvious._

_"Yeah."_

_"Look, I know I said I wouldn't join your crew and I meant it, but we are still friends. So you should drop by sometime, it's always nice to hang out. And I'm certainly not going anywhere, so I'll be here. I'll even cook you up something special when you come back, alright?"_

_His attempt to cheer Luffy up worked to a degree, as he gave him a small smile, and said, "Okay."_

_The straw hat fourteen year old then hugged his swirley browed friend, as he said his farewell. "Goodbye Sanji."_

_He was somewhat caught off guard, and if it had been anyone else, he'd probably have kicked them upside the head, nevertheless though, he returned the hug. "Goodbye Luffy."_

_Luffy pulled away then, before leaving the room, exiting the Baratie altogether in a matter of moments, back on the small marine vessel and heading home shortly afterward._

* * *

"The guy sounds like a bit of an idiot." Nami stated bluntly.

"For once I have to agree with her, guy sounds like an idiot." Zoro agreed, though he felt a bit of gratitude to this Sanji guy for not turning Luffy away after finding out about his ability.

"He definitely sounds a bit unorthodox, but if he's really that good of a cook, then who cares?" Usopp put forth. That's when the long nosed teen brought something else up. "But, he said he doesn't want to join, so it doesn't really matter, right?"

Luffy shook his head at that. "No, he wants to join."

"But you said he said-"

"He said that because he feels indebted to old man Zeff, but he did want to join, I could tell." Luffy said, not leaving much room for argument.

Usopp thought about further protest, as it didn't sound to him like Sanji wanted to join, but then thought better of it, as Luffy would just keep on until he gave in anyway.

"Okay, then you guys have got yourselves a cook. Only one problem, do you even know how to get back to this Baratie?" Nami asked, sounding a bit snarky as she did.

Johnny cut in then, "Well, you guys might not know, but I do. I was actually going to suggest you go there to recruit your cook, but apparently you already did. So I'll just show you guys the way."

"You will? Thanks!" Luffy replied with a smile.

"Come on, I'll help you set the course." Nami said, as she stood and went outside with Johnny, taking Zoro and Usopp along as well so they could do what she needed them to, so that said course could be set.

"I hope you're finally ready to join the crew Sanji." Luffy though to himself, as he fixed his hat, stood and went outside with the others.

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**


	20. Boiling Point

Tonlor: Yeah, you got me. I wanted him to know those four before he set out, so had planned for him to meet Sanji and Usopp from the very beginning. As for Krieg, yeah, I personally can't stand him either. Finally, on the case of Arlong, let me just say this, you have no idea.

Ranger Station Charlie: Nah, he didn't have enough time. Given a few more days though he probably could've convinced Sanji. I can guarantee you that he'll be busting out techniques sooner than in Cannon, but I won't go into any further detail than that. As for Luffy's training with Garp, it's made him stronger than he was before and has exposed him to the six powers, which you saw evidence of in chapter seventeen. As for Stamp Gatling, in case you don't remember, he already used that move on Buggy, back in chapter thirteen. And in closing, I'll just say this, Garp's training will come into play several times throughout the story, revealing what Luffy did and didn't learn from him.

pipi96: I understand how you feel, believe me when I say I don't want her to keep hurting Luffy any more than you do. However, she'll do whatever it takes to keep him away from Arlong. Even if it means making him hate her. Her act, her lies, the things she's gone through in the past eight years, Arlong's monstrous acts, Luffy's feelings of hurt and anger, it's all leading to one point, where everything will...for the lack of a better word, explode. Just hold on until it happens, and I think you'll find it quite...satisfying.

You guys remember how I said themes, dialogue and etcetera would be darker and/or more mature? Well this chapter is a good example of that.

Now then, here's the next chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

"And here we are, the sea restaurant Baratie!" Johnny said loudly, as he presented the floating restaurant to the others.

"How lovely." Nami commented.

"This is the coolest place ever!" Usopp remarked in awe.

Zoro simply shrugged his shoulders.

Luffy had nothing to say to the sight either, only a smirk on his face and a thought in his head as he saw the Baratie once more. "Looks like I'm back."

They dropped anchor much closer to the floating establishment than you were supposed to, but they were pirates, so they didn't think much of it.

Yosaku exited the cabin, coming out on deck, just as the rest began getting off the ship, the bounty hunter coming along with them, wanting some of the food they were going to be getting.

Luffy led them inside, throwing open the doors and announcing his presence, a very large smile on his face as he did, "SANJI! I'm back!"

The entire restaurant's attention was on the six that had just entered, seeing as how Luffy had been so loud. And while most of the people in there seemed less than happy, to put it lightly, to see them, there was one person who was. This person poked his head out from the back, and smiled upon seeing them. He disappeared, having pulled his head back, before he came out to greet them.

"Luffy, long time no see rubber brain." He said, smiling, obviously happy to see his friend, despite the minor insult he had just thrown at him.

As he approached them, Luffy took in the changes that had happened to him. He had grown taller of course, slightly more muscular, and his hair was just a tad longer. He no longer wore the Baratie uniform though, now sporting a dark black suit with a dark blue, long sleeve, button up pinstripe shirt, and a pair of black dress shoes.

In the time that Luffy took in what was different about Sanji since he saw him last, the blonde had done the same to his friend, and more. As he had noticed the presence of Nami, his eyes widening a good deal as he had. He proceeded to move much faster than he had been, coming to a stop in front of Nami, kneeling before her, a rose in his hand that hadn't been there before, as he offered it to her. "Oh dear ocean, thank you for this treasure you have shared from your depths." He thought to himself.

Nami took a step back, her confusion obvious, the look on her face making it clear she knew what he was doing, she just didn't know why, nor did she seem to like it.

"Oh, my love, I just can't bare this hardship of loving you from afar, it is too difficult. I am now prepared to sail the ends of the Earth as a pirate, if it means someone of your rare beauty will be by my side!" He proclaimed, his eyes turning into hearts as he did.

"Uhh..." Nami just didn't know what to say.

"Dude, what's with your eyes!?" Usopp asked, distressed by what he was seeing. "That's not normal!" He stated, sounding pretty freaked out as he did. Johnny and Yosaku were nodding their heads vigorously in agreement at that.

Zoro scowled at this scene, "I have a feeling that...I'm really not going to like this guy."

Luffy frowned at it too, not liking it...though unsure why. Sanji did this kind of thing to every pretty girl he met, so he had expected this, but still...

Sanji got to his feet then, his heart eyes only growing bigger as he did, moving a tad closer to the orange haired girl while they did. "To be together sailing the seas, oh how great it would be!"

Luffy's frown evolved into a scowl at that, as he felt a strong urge to deck his friend in the face, hard, like break your face hard.

"Hey, look, I don't-"

Before Nami could finish her sentence, both Luffy and Sanji were taken off their feet, as Zeff came out of nowhere, ramming his peg leg into the blonde's right cheek and slamming his actual foot into the side of the straw hat pirate's head, drop kicking the two hard in the face, causing said teens to go flying to the right, not stopping until they slammed into the wall, cracking it as they did. Groaning, they fell face first to the floor, before jumping back to their feet, shouting as they did.

"What was that for Old Man!?"

"What the hell is wrong with you Geezer!?" Despite having been kicked into a wall, Sanji's cigarette was still in his mouth, surprising almost everyone there.

Standing firmly on his feet, where they had been standing just a moment ago, he began to speak, moving towards them as he did. "You haven't been back more than two minutes and you're already causing a ruckus, disturbing my customers meals! Where are your manners young man!?" Zeff asked Luffy in particular, stopping in front of him as he did.

"I-" As the raven haired sixteen year old opened his mouth to say something, Zeff proceeded to bring his head down, so that he could whack the teen with his extra, extra long chef's hat. He didn't stop with one whack however, moving his head back to it's original position and bringing it down again, hitting him again and again and again, over and over, beating him at a rapid pace with the hat. "No excuses!" He yelled at him, stopping the hat beating after about a dozen or so whacks.

It hadn't hurt Luffy, but it had got him to go quiet, which was all that was needed. So the old chef turned toward his protege then, "And you, would you stop being so stubborn!? This boy gave you an invitation to join his crew more than two years ago, take it and go become a pirate already!"

"But Geezer-"

He was cut off just as Luffy had been, "I have no need to keep you here at my restaurant." Zeff stated in a way that left no room for argument.

"I'm the sous chef in this place, what do you mean you have no need of me?" The blonde teen questioned, in spite of the no argument statement.

"You fight with customers all the time, you flirt with every woman under eighty who walks in here, and you couldn't get along with any of the other chefs to save your life. As for your cooking...well, I am the one who trained you, so we both know I can take care of that. You aren't needed here, so just go and become a pirate already."

"That's how it is huh? Well guess what, you can't get rid of me that easily. I'm staying here as the sous chef, whether you like it or not old man." Sanji rebutted firmly.

"Why you ingrate!" Zeff cried, grabbing ahold of Sanji by the collar as he did, before proceeding to toss him back into the same wall he had rammed into a minute ago, the blonde collapsing back onto the floor a moment later.

Sitting up, Sanji met Zeff's eyes with his own, saying as he did, "Enough with the games ya damn Geezer. You can try to get rid of me as many times as you want, but I'm here to stay. I'm not going anywhere old man. Not until you're dead and gone."

"Dead? Heh. I've got another hundred years of kicking your ass left in me." He said, before turning and walking away.

"Always has to have the last word, doesn't he?" Sanji asked to no one in particular, as he got to his feet.

"See, old man Zeff says it's cool, so come on, join my crew already!" Luffy insisted.

"I've already told you a hundred times, I can't Luffy." He replied, much more calmly than any of them had expected him to. "What I can do though, is treat you to that special meal I promised." He smirked at his friend as he said this.

The rubber man began to drool at that. "Oh yeah, that sounds good too."

Sanji chuckled at that, "I thought it would. Find yourselves a table, I'll bring out the food once it's done." He turned and walked toward the back then, heading for the kitchen.

They did as he said, finding a table and sitting down at it, as they waited for the food he would bring them. And as they waited, Usopp spoke up, "Luffy, he really doesn't seem to wanna join. Don't you think that maybe we should try and get a different cook while we're here?"

"No way. Sanji is the only cook I'll accept on our crew, and that's that." Luffy stated firmly.

"But what do we do if he won't join? Are we supposed to sail without a cook?" Usopp asked, unsure of the situation.

Luffy shook his head at that. "No, we won't. We aren't leaving this place without Sanji. No matter how long it takes, I will make Sanji a part of our crew."

* * *

Three days later...

Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Usopp were all out on deck of the Merry, having woken up a couple of minutes ago. It had been a few days since they had arrived, and they had yet to convince Sanji to join. Zoro, Nami and Usopp did get to witness what had been the final nail in the coffin that was the reason for the blonde joining the crew for themselves though. As a pirate named Ghin had stumbled in on their first day here, looking malnourished, obviously on the verge of starving to death. He threatened the cooks with a flintlock pistol, telling them that if they didn't feed him, he would feed them a bullet.

A cook by the name of Patty wasn't having any of it however, ramming the man's head through a table and proceeding to beat him down for trying to eat there without any cash, and daring to threaten him as well. After the beating was over, they threw him outside, Sanji disappearing into the back as they did. A few minutes later, he came out with a bowl of food and a glass of water for the man, Luffy and his friends following after him as he did.

Sanji and Ghin argued about the former's charity and the latter's pride, but in the end, the blonde chef was able to convince the pirate to eat, saving his life in the process. Ghin understood this and groveled before Sanji, thanking him profusely, tears streaming down his face all the while. In response, Sanji merely explained to him he knew how it felt to be without food and water for so long, and that he would never let someone go hungry, whether they be pirate or marine, money or no money.

Which was why none of them had any complaints about staying here so long to recruit the man. Well none of them but Nami, she didn't voice her complaints however, as they involved her business back home. That didn't stop her temper from flaring they, the object of her ire being the straw hat teen, lashing out at him quite often, building tension so thick it could almost choke someone.

As Johnny came out on deck as well, he and his partner having been staying on the ship as well, the sound of some kind of bell and horn or something of that nature making a bunch of racket caught their attention. Looking over to where it was coming from, they saw a marine ship just a tad bigger than their own vessel pulling up beside them.

Yosaku chose that moment to come out onto the deck also, quickly scrambling back and hiding behind the door as he realized that a marine ship had just stopped next to them. "A marine ship, all the way out here!?" He thought worriedly and somewhat disbelievingly.

"Hey Luffy, they're not going to start firing at us are they?" Usopp asked of his captain, a bit of sweat running down his forehead as he did, his concern evident.

"Ugh, it's just our luck. Of course the Marines would show up." Zoro said, obviously annoyed by their presence.

Johnny quietly began to sneak over to where Yosaku was hiding at that point.

"Damn that Krieg, slipping away from my grasp like that." They all heard a man mutter to himself, as he walked out onto the deck of the marine ship. Now outside, his eyes caught sight of their ship. "I've never seen that pirate flag before." They all heard the man say to himself, as he walked to the edge of the marine ship, allowing them to see what he looked like.

This man was of average size and build, had well groomed short pink hair, tanned skin and a scar going from the right side of his jaw almost up to his right eye in a diagonal pattern. As for the clothes he wore, a white pinstripe suit with a light blue dress shirt underneath, and a pair of black dress shoes. What was most notable about the man though, was the fact that he wore a single iron knuckleduster on his right hand, which had bolts attached to the knuckles.

This man quickly made himself known, "I am Ironfist Fullbody, but you all can just call me Sir. Now, whichever one of you's the captain, identify yourself!" He demanded.

"My name is Luffy." The straw hat pirate complied, stepping forward as he did. "And I'm the captain of this crew. We only made our flag a couple days ago, which is why you've never seen it before." He explained.

"You did, is that so?" He asked, obviously amused judging by the grin on his face.

This smirk of his faded, as his eyes caught sight of Johnny and Yosaku. "Hey you two, right there, I've seen you before." He stated, making it clear who he was talking to, causing the two to begin to sweat. "You're that bounty hunter duo that goes after the small fish, right?"

Seeing as they had already been seen, they left their hiding place from behind the door, as they tried to explain. "Well, we, uh-" Johnny started, his nervousness clear.

"So, you've finally been caught by pirates." He stated as if it was fact, clearly not knowing the real situation.

"Well actually, we-" Johnny tried once more, only to be cut off by the marine again. "Now that's a laugh." Chuckling a bit after saying so, as if to prove a point.

A pretty blonde woman in a red dress came up behind the man then, moving to his side to hug his arm, saying as she did, "Hey, come on baby, let's get going."

"Sure." He replied, acknowledging her.

"Hey wait a minute!" Johnny yelled in an attempt to keep the man's attention on him and his partner. "You think small time bounty hunters would go after these guys!?" He shouted, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a bunch of bounty posters, proceeding to toss them all out to show everyone.

The marine had already turned away however, and was preparing to deboard his ship with his lady friend. "Now, let's head inside." He said to her. Just before they got off the boat though, he gestured to one of his subordinates, speaking as he did, "Their ship is an eyesore, sink it."

With a salute, the marine grunt rushed to do what he was told.

"H-he ignored us." Johnny stated, obviously aggravated by it.

"Next time we see him, he better have a little more respect for us." Yosaku said in a warning like tone.

Nami happened to glance down at the bounties then, and what caught her eyes sent a shock through her system. Crouching down, she picked up the piece of paper that had caught her attention so, taking a look at it, her eyes widening as she did. Almost no one noticed this, as their eyes were on Fullbody as he stepped onto the Baratie and proceeded to enter the establishment.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" As the sound of his laughter plagued Nami's mind, she closed her eyes tight, feeling sick to her stomach as she did.

"Nami, what's wrong?" Her eyes shot open at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, looking back at the person who was touching her, her eyes wide with fright, disgust and hate swirling around in her orbs as well. Upon seeing it was Luffy, the emotions faded and her eyes returned to normal, though there seemed to be a remnant of something in them, almost a shadow behind her eyes, as if she was haunted by something she kept seeing over and over again. "Nothing, I'm fine." She said icily, standing as she did.

"You sure?" Luffy questioned, knowing there was, but wanting to hear it from her mouth.

"Yeah." Was all she responded with, letting go of the piece of paper, allowing it to slowly fall to the ground, floating down and down until it touched the deck of the ship, as she turned and walked away.

"Nami, wait wh-" Luffy tried to say, moving to follow her, but was quickly cut off, "Just leave me alone!" She said harshly, sounding like she was on the verge of crying as she did, passing by Johnny and Yosaku as she went inside the ship.

Stopping in his tracks, the raven haired teen shut his mouth, as he was sure she wanted him to. Zoro's, Usopp's, Johnny's and Yosaku's eyes were all on him at that point, but he didn't pay them any mind, as he turned and looked down at the bounty that had seemed to perturb her so much. Crouching just as she did, he grabbed ahold of it and brought it up so he could get a good look at it himself.

"Saw-Tooth Arlong, wanted for thirty million berris." Luffy muttered, reading the page to himself. The picture was of a blue skinned fishman with a long, sharp, saw like nose. The straw hat teen's eyes narrowed slightly then, as he continued to speak to himself, "Who are you and why did seeing you make Nami act like that?"

Zoro took a step forward then, letting the other three know to keep quiet as he did, so as to look down, over his captain's shoulder, so he could see what he was looking at. He managed to catch sight of the bounty poster and read it, just before Luffy crumpled it up, closing his hand into a fist, gripping the paper tightly in his hand, before letting it fall to the floor, standing up as he did. "Zoro..."

"I got it Captain." Zoro assured, knowing what the raven haired teen wanted him to do.

Luffy nodded his head at that, waiting for his friend to do as he ordered him to before he moved. Zoro did as his captain wanted him to quickly, ushering Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku off the ship and into the Baratie, as the rubber teen wanted to be alone with Nami, so they could talk. While Zoro didn't like it, knowing the witch was just going to hurt him again, it was an order, so he would follow it, out of respect for his captain.

Once inside though, their minds were on something else other than what was going on outside, and that was what had happened in here. This was because a table was broken in half, there was glass and food on the floor, and Sanji was currently holding that Fullbody guy up by the throat, his feet a few inches off the ground, his eyes rolled back in his head, barely conscious. Said pink haired marine was beaten and bloodied, the red life liquid dripping down off his knuckles onto the floor, looking like he had been kicked around by a group of guys, rather than just the one.

"Looks like we missed a fight." Zoro remarked.

"Don't ever waste food around me again." Sanji started firmly. "At sea, if you ever provoke your cook, you're signing your own death warrant, remember that." The blonde finished grimly.

* * *

Luffy stood on the deck of his ship, waiting until they were inside. Once they were, he turned to follow Nami down below deck, when the sound of a cannon being aimed caught his attention, the noise coming from the marine ship to the side. Once aimed, the thing was quickly fired, sending a cannonball hurdling toward the pirate ship. The straw hat teen wasn't going to bother with this, not now, so, as the metal ball came close to making contact with the ship, Luffy jumped into the air and kicked the thing back at the marine ship that had just fired it, his accuracy almost pinpoint accurate, as it grazed the cannon it had been fired from, knocking it over and causing the grunt manning it to cry out in shock and fear, collapsing backward to avoid being hit by the thing. The cannonball ended up ripping through the area below deck of the ship until it burst out the other side of the vessel, falling into the ocean shortly after it did, having lost most of it's momentum.

After this happened, the marine grunt stood up, looking quite alarmed at the hole in the ship as he did. He looked over at the man who had done it, and as his eyes met the dark haired pirate's, he spoke, "If you bother me by firing another, I'll sink you with it."

The marine broke into cold sweat, his posture and eyes showing just how scared he was of the teen at that moment. Quickly realizing that his fellow marines might try and fire on the man, he snapped himself out of it and rushed to tell them to not to, lest they be sunk.

Confident the man would keep that from happening again, Luffy headed down below deck, going for Nami's room as he did.

* * *

As Luffy entered the bedroom Nami had been using since they got the Merry, she was facing away from him, standing, her arms around herself, almost as if she was hugging herself. Closing the door behind him, he moved to approach her, as he took the first step though, she spoke, "Please Luffy...just go. I don't want to talk, not to anyone...especially not you." She tried to convey nastiness, but her voice was quivering, so it didn't get through.

The straw hat teen was silent at that, not bothering to move either, not for several long moments. When he did move though, he slowly came up behind the orange haired girl, took off his hat and prepared to place it on her head. Just before it could make contact with her scalp however, she whirled to face him, smacking the straw hat right out of his hand as she did. "I don't want that damn thing!"

It hit the wall, before floating down to the floor, unharmed despite being hit. Having roughly handled his hat, Nami was sure Luffy would at least scream at her, but to her surprise, he didn't even flinch. He simply let his raised hand, the one that had been holding his hat, fall back to his side. "Nami..." He near whispered, his voice as he said her name making her want to cry even more, her tears becoming near impossible to hold back.

"What Luffy? What is it? What the fuck is it!? Tell me! Just tell me! What the fuck do you want from me!?" She screamed at him, her tears finally beginning to fall, as she was almost completely out of ways to try and make him hate her. "I've said such horrible things to him, treated him so horridly, why won't he just give up on me already!?" She thought to herself frantically.

When he didn't respond to her words, she continued on, trying once more to get him to hate her, so he would let her go. "Do you need a navigator that badly!? So badly that you have to keep me with you against my will!? Or is just my body you want!? Do you want my body Luffy!? Is that what you want!? Do you wanna fuck me!? Cause if that's what it takes to get you to leave me alone, then just do it already, go ahead and fuck me, that way I won't ever have to see your stupid face again!"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" He cried, driving his fist through the wall to his right as he did, breaking through it like it was nothing.

Nami jumped at that, never hearing Luffy sound like that before, it honestly shocking her and scaring her a little bit, her eyes quite wide from it occurring.

Tears were streaming down his face, as he roughly removed his fist from the wall, breaking a bit more of the wall as he did, having shoved half his arm through the thing, the hole big enough to see into the next room. "I'm so sick of your shit! You aren't fooling anyone, this isn't you! This is all just an act! You're hiding something, something that's scarred you! And I know that whatever it is terrifies you, but I'm not a little boy anymore Nami, I can handle it! I'm strong now, I can protect you! So just fucking let me already!" He shouted at her, trying to get her to see reason.

Her tears had sped up, flowing at a rapid pace at this point, as she just stood there, speechless from his outburst, able to do nothing but stare back into the eyes that could see into her very soul.

Luffy was panting slightly, having gotten more emotional in that moment than he had in a long time, not bothering to say anything more, as he stared into her eyes, hers staring right back into his.

This time where neither of them spoke lasted for who knows how long, before Luffy turned away, bending down to pick up his hat, placing it firmly on his head, turning to face her once more afterwards. As he came face to face with her for the second time since he entered the room, he finally broke the speechlessness that had been shared between the two. "Arlong..."

"W-what?" She asked fearfully, her eyes widening even further, stopping herself from reaching for her left arm as she did.

"This has something to do with that Arlong guy on that poster you were looking at, doesn't it?" He clarified.

"I-I...w-why would you think that?" She questioned, her voice trembling, unconsciously grasping the top of her left arm as she did, forgetting about trying to stop herself from doing so, losing focus as she was slowly pressed.

"The way you acted when you saw his picture...I could tell, he has something to do with what's wrong with you, what you're hiding. Did he do something to you?" He asked, his tone low and dangerous, despite the tears still rolling down his face.

She couldn't bring herself to answer that, closing her eyes tightly, as she tried to keep from breaking down, her grip on the top of her left arm changing to having a grip on her left sleeve, said grip tightening, as she pulled at the sleeve of her shirt.

Luffy's eyes narrowed slightly, noticing what she was doing, receiving an answer as he did. It may not be the answer he wanted, but it did tell him that he was right, it had something to do with this Arlong person. It also gave him a hunch, that he proceeded to follow.

He reached toward her, the young girl flinching as he did, and grabbed ahold of her right hand, removing it from the sleeve it had a death grip on, proceeding to lower her hand back down to her side before letting go of it. With that done, he moved his hand back up and took hold of her left sleeve. She tensed, as she pleaded, "Don't, please."

The straw hat man didn't listen, in spite of the fact that he wanted to, and pushed her sleeve up, revealing the tattoo she had on her left arm. It was a blue saw-nosed shark turned to the left with the tail curving inward, a semi oval with three curves emitting from it around it.

"What is this?" Luffy inquired, his eyes wide, his emotions unclear at that point.

Nami refused to open her eyes at that point, hanging her head upon him seeing the tattoo that served as her brand mark. "I hate you..." She whispered under her breath, trying one last time to get him to just leave her alone.

His eyes went back to her face when she said that, simply staring at her, waiting for her to open her eyes. After several long moments, it didn't look like she would, so, Luffy said, "Prove it."

"What?" She asked, opening her eyes and looking back up at him as she did.

"You really want me out of your life? You really want me gone that badly? Then prove it to me. Prove that you hate me, that you want me gone more than anything else." He said grimly.

"H-how...how am I supposed to do that?" She questioned, feeling ill beyond compare as she prepared to reach for something she had hidden away, making the slightest of movements as she did

Luffy's eyes followed her own, down to her right boot, then back up to her face again. "You wanna use that?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"That knife your hiding in your boot, do you want to use it on me? Is that why you were reaching for it?"

"I-I-I-" She stuttered.

His eyes narrowed a bit then. "If you really want to use it that badly, then go ahead. Kill me with it. I won't stop you." He said darkly.

Her eyes widened to the max at that, greatly taken back by his words. "Wh-what!?" She cried incredulously.

Luffy reached down and pulled out the small knife she had hidden in her right boot, before placing it in her hands, and forcing her to grip it. "If you really hate me, really want me gone, then kill me. That's why you had that hidden there right? You know as well as I do, that as long as I'm alive, I'll follow you to the ends of the Earth, because I love you too much to live without you."

Her body began to tremble then, as she shouted at him, "What is wrong with you!? You want me to kill you!? How messed up in the head are you!?"

"Do it."

"No!

"Do it."

"I won't!

"Do it." He repeated for the third time.

"I said no!"

He grabbed ahold of her hands then, roughly yanking them up, forcing her to hold the knife as he did this, and poised the tip of the blade at his heart. "We both know I won't leave you alone as long as I'm alive, I'll continue to follow you, making you miserable everywhere you go. I make you cry on a daily basis, I know that, and I can't stand it. I don't want to hurt you, I don't want you to be unhappy, and I don't want to make you cry. If you hate me so much, then I hate myself too, so just put me out of my misery. Unshackle yourself from me and be free!" He commanded her angrily, his tears beginning to dry as he did.

"I...I...I...I can't."

"You can."

"I can't!"

"Kill me!" He shouted, his anger rising.

"I already told you, I can't!"

"Do it!"

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "AHHHHHH!" She cried out, lunging forward with the knife as she did.

* * *

Zoro, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku had all come back outside, wondering what was taking Luffy so long. Once out there though, they didn't have to wait long before he came out of the Merry. Once on deck, he was off the boat and standing on the Baratie once more in a matter of moments, his hat pulled down to cover his face.

Now that they could see him clearly all of their eyes went wide, as his chest was covered in blood, that red vest of his even darker because of the life liquid, not to mention there was a small incision in said vest, the size of the blade of a small knife, the same incision in his skin as well, where the blade had entered his flesh, blood still coming out said wound.

He looked up from the ground, letting his eyes show, so they were able to meet with the others eyes.

Zoro's eyes narrowed then, a dangerous look coming into his eyes. "She's worse than the devil!"

"Nami!" He snarled aloud, rage filling him, as he gripped his Wado tightly, preparing to unsheath it while he dashed forward, moving towards the Merry. "I'll kill her!"

"Nami did that!?" Usopp asked incredulously.

"Big Sis did!?" Both Johnny and Yosaku questioned disbelievingly.

Luffy cut Zoro off, blocking his path to the ship, refusing to let him pass, even as he tried over and over again to get past him. "Zoro-"

"No, not this time Luffy!" He moved to pass him, only for the rubber pirate to intercept him again.

"It's not what you-"

"I won't let her get away with hurting you, not anymore!" He pushed him and tried to rush past, but was pushed back and was blocked by his body once more.

"Listen to me dammit! She-" Zoro moved to pass Luffy once more, the rubber man barely missing the chance to block him, letting the green haired man start drawing closer to the Merry.

"Zoro!" Luffy called after him, to no avail.

As he drew dangerously close to the ship, just about to jump up onto the deck, finally pulling the Wado out as he did, Luffy cried, "RORONOA ZORO!"

Hearing Luffy call him by his full name, which he had never ever done before, managed to stop Zoro in his tracks, the older teen slowly turning to face his younger friend, his surprise evident on his face.

His own anger showing, Luffy shouted, "You will not hurt her! That is a direct order from your captain, understand!?"

He was quick to protest. "Luffy, she stabbed you in the fucking chest!"

"I don't care! I gave you an order Zoro!"

The swordsman couldn't help but growl at that, not liking it in the slightest, downright hating it in fact. But, nevertheless, he begrudgingly sheathed his Wado, and began to walk back towards Luffy. "Fine."

Once Zoro was back with his captain, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku, the bounty hunting duo asked together, "Did Big Sis really stab you?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you guys, it's not what you think. What happened was-"

"Ahh! Luffy, the ship!" Usopp yelled frantically, pointing at where the ship once was as he did.

Luffy and Zoro both turned around at that, to see the Merry turned around and sailing away, the sail unfurled and the anchor raised, the vessel already almost a dozen feet away from the Baratie.

"That damn devil woman is stealing the ship!" Zoro remarked angrily.

All five of them quickly rushed to the edge of the Baratie, but the ship was too far out for any of them to jump to at that point. Luffy could stretch however, and quickly threw his left arm out, stretching it to reach the boat, grabbing onto the railing once he was able. Just before he could snap back towards his hand however, Nami came out onto the deck, rushing towards his outstretched hand, her knife in her hands once more. She brought it down and purposely nicked the side of his hand with it, trying to get him to let go. It didn't work, so she brought her left foot up and stomped down on his thumb, pulling the knife back as she did, before bringing it down once more and stabbing the back of his hand, burying the blade about one third of the way into his flesh.

As he grit his teeth in pain, she yanked the knife back out and proceeded to kick his hand off the railing, his arm snapping back towards him as he was forced to let go of the ship. Once his arm was back to normal length, he shot his other one out, his right one, stretching it until it reached the ship. Before he could grab ahold of the railing though, Nami had assembled that wooden staff of hers, and batted his hand away with it as hard as she could, so as to keep him from grabbing on. In doing so successfully, when Luffy's right arm returned to it's normal length, he didn't bother to throw it out again.

"Goddamn witch!" Zoro shouted.

"Nami, don't take the Merry, please!" Usopp yelled.

"Come back Big Sis!" Both Johnny and Yosaku cried.

Luffy's face went blank, as he watched after Nami and the Merry, sailing away. "Nami..."

* * *

_Blood dripped onto the floor, drop after drop hitting the wood, and that was the only sound that could be heard in the girls room, the two individuals pressed together completely silent._

_Nami held the knife in one hand, the blade of it buried in flesh, blood trickling down her hand and dripping onto the floor, her body pressed into Luffy's, said sticky red substance covering his chest from the wound that had just been inflicted._

_Luffy's eyes were wide, as he looked down at where the knife had entered flesh, blood flowing from it. "Nami..." He whispered._

_She had placed her left hand over his heart, before proceeding to bury the knife into her own flesh, the blade coming out and piercing Luffy's skin, only getting about an inch or two in, before the knife had been buried to the hilt._

_"There, happy now?" She asked him bitterly, before stepping back, pulling the knife out of her hand as she did, allowing it to drop to the floor, she herself collapsing to her knees and beginning to cry uncontrollably, as her plan had failed. She hadn't got him to hate her. And now...he would die, because he wouldn't let her go._

_"Nami, I-" He started, reaching down to try and comfort her, but as soon as he touched her, she shrugged him off, shaking her head vigorously as she did. "No! Leave me alone!"_

_"B-but-" He tried once more, only to be shut down again. "Just go Luffy!"_

_"I...alright. I'll be back in a bit. We can talk then." He said, before reluctantly leaving the room, so as to let her be alone, not bothering to clean off all her blood on his chest as he did._

* * *

Luffy's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched tightly, a spark in his orbs igniting into a fire, as he proclaimed, "I will come for you Nami."

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

I'm sure you guys noticed that I increased Arlong's bounty by ten million. This is because he's one of the people who is stronger in my story than in Cannon. Not by a lot, just enough to where he warranted a ten mil bounty increase.


	21. The Fighting Baratie

midnightscar17: Indeed it is. I do too. Yes, yes she will. And of course.

Johnny Spectre: Nah, he's just stronger, so he caused more havoc. That's not a bad idea though, although that'd probably have gotten him killed. As for Luffy's bounty...maybe, I'm not telling. XP

F-ckthesystem125: You got that right.

Guest: While that is a valid point, would it really have gone up? I mean let's be honest, the Marines don't really give a damn about people. Certain individuals in the Marines care, yes, but a good deal of them couldn't give a single fuck. Arlong's bribing of the Marines didn't really keep his bounty from being increased, rather it kept his presence in Cocoyashi village a secret, keeping people like Smoker, who actually cares about people, from finding out about him and whipping his ass to the Grand Line and back. So, in my opinion, even without the bribery, his bounty would have remained the same. He has a higher bounty in my One Piece universe because he is somewhat stronger and caused more havoc before the current point the story is at.

Tonlor: Believe me, I know. I am the one who had to write it after all. I wanted him to hug her so badly. But it just wasn't the right time. A little longer, just a little longer. And thank you very much. :)

Ranger Station Charlie: Eh, you have a fair point. And I agree with you, which is why I gave him a thirty million bounty. I just made him a bit stronger too, that's all. :P

pipi96: I know, I know, it's hard to deal with. But at least, when it comes to Luffy and Nami anyways, the worst is over now. Yes, yes he does. Oh, you read my one-shot Anything For His Navigator? Thank you for reading it. As for killing Arlong...well, you'll see what happens, I have something special planned for that bastard. And as for Sanji, well, yeah, basically that was what was going to happen, they would have definitely gotten into a scuffle. Finally, you're more than welcome for the update. I write based on mood, so as long as I'm in a One Piece mood, I should be putting up chapters at a decent pace.

Guest that reviewed almost every chapter back to back: First of all, I'd like to thank you for dropping me so many reviews, I appreciate it when new readers review the older chapters. Now then, onto responding to your reviews.

Your second and third reviews: I wouldn't say Ace and Garp are horrible at being a brother and grandparent respectively, at least they loved him. They could have been better sure, but they could've been worse too. And at least Ace got better with time. Ace is brash, hot headed and has violent tendencies, but he's not a bad person, thanks to Luffy and Sabo that is. And yes, Luffy is different, but there isn't anything wrong with him. He's just very loving, trusting, accepting and forgiving. And as for child services, no, as far as I know, the One Piece world does not have any agency like that.

Your sixth review: Yeah, I was showing hints of Ace with Nojiko, I like the couple and I think they fit together. I still haven't decided whether I'll go through with it or not. As for Kuina and Sabo, no, I'm not setting them up to be together, nor did I try to put any hints towards them having that kind of relationship.

Your seventh review: Damn, that's a little cold don't ya think? I mean Nami wasn't the weakest member of the crew until near the end of pre-timeskip, Oda himself stating that Usopp was the physically weakest member of the crew until post-timeskip.

Your eighth review: It was shown in the anime that Bellemere had at least attained the rank of captain, so that's cannon. And what do you mean she should know haki if she's a captain? Both Morgan and Smoker are marine captains, neither of them know haki. Yes Smoker learned to use haki later, but that was after he was promoted. So no, just because she used to be a marine captain, does not mean that she should know haki. And as for her fight with Bluejam, well, I don't know his exact strength, though it isn't impossible that he might be stronger than Morgan when he was introduced in the anime/manga. And she isn't all that strong when you consider the strength of the people in the Grand Line, both paradise and the new world. So...yeah, that was why it was an almost even scuffle between her and Bluejam.

Your ninth, tenth and eleventh reviews: He knows of the six powers and understands how to use them in theory, but Garp didn't actually teach them to him, nor has the straw hat teen ever used any of them before. As for his haki, he doesn't even know what that is. Garp didn't know that he had awakened his conquerors haki, so combine that with the fact that he would only teach Luffy certain things if he agreed to join the marines, and the fact that he could be incompetent at times, you end up with him not teaching his grandson about haki. The story retains cannon elements because some I wanted to keep, and if you think about it, if things that happened in Cannon are happening earlier in my story, isn't that technically an alternate universe within itself? Yes, I do plan to give him a crew of at least ten people. And he isn't going to have the same experiences, just keep reading, you'll see.

Your twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth reviews: You do get a good reason for her hiding from him, just keep reading, you'll see. Yes, you're right, he doesn't know how to use haki, he is stronger though. He took on Buggy and twelve prisoners, that when put together, are as strong as four Buggys, so he technically took on, when it comes to power anyway, five Buggys rather than just one, minus his devil fruit of course. Why thank you, I'm glad you liked the fights! :)

Your fifteenth and sixteenth reviews: Yes they are a bit ungrateful, and yes she is pulling a Robin. And while I don't think she's being stupid, I do think she's making the wrong decision. As for Luffy being more heroic than the marines, well, yeah, that's kind of a fact.

Your seventeenth review: It says shawn instead of guest, but considering what the review says, I'm pretty sure its you. Now then, what makes you think Luffy's weaker from reading chapter sixteen? He didn't fight in chapter sixteen. If you're talking about Jango hypnotizing him, strength doesn't come into play, otherwise Nami and Usopp would be able to be hypnotized by him.

Your eighteenth and nineteenth reviews: How are Onion, Pepper, Carrot and Kaya dumbasses? And as for Luffy loving Nami being super annoying, I'm sorry. Well, actually, I'm not sorry. You see he is a bit smarter and knows a few more things than in Cannon, such as what the kind of love he feels for Nami is, thanks to Bellemere and Makino. She was the first person to ever tell him that they love him. He thought she was cute since he was seven. Ace explained things like sex and dating to him as they grew up. He feels like he can't live without her, and finally, along with Zoro, meat and becoming Pirate King, she is always on his mind. That equals out to love my friend.

Your twentieth and twenty first review: Why's Sabo hiding. well, he's not exactly hiding per se. As for them not being normal as children, well that's how it was in the anime and manga as well, they weren't normal for their ages. As for why Nami is with them in chapter nineteen, did you read chapter seventeen? Luffy said he wouldn't let her leave until he freed her from whatever was binding her, that's why.

You know what time it is don't you guys? Of course you do, it's battle time! Once more, I always appreciate feedback on the fights, as they are an integral part of the story. I also want feedback because I feel a bit iffy on these fights. I mean, I feel they're fine, good even, but I'd like to know if you guys think so. I'm trying to get as good as I can for some of the cooler fights coming up.

Also, longest chapter yet, just so you guys know.

Anyways, onto the chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

"Dammit, not again Sanji! What do you think you're doing to our customer? Can't you see he's a marine lieutenant? You can't just kick him around like any old thug!" Patty scolded the blonde, as he made his way toward him.

"You're a terrible cook, maybe even the worst cook in this whole damn restaurant, so what makes you think you can talk to me like that?" The well dressed sous chef questioned, looking to Patty as he did, still not bothering to let go of the only semi-conscious Fullbody.

"A crappy cook like you is calling me bad? Sounds like a bad joke to me." Patty scoffed. "Listen here Sanji, restaurants can't exist without their customers, their our life blood, so we don't wanna hurt them the way you keep doing." The chef came to a stop less than two feet from the blonde as he finished.

"But he deserved it. He didn't treat the food or me with respect. And he insulted all the cooks. So, I simply taught him a lesson." Sanji explained, finally letting go of the pink haired marine as he did, the man hitting the floor at an angle that put him on his ass, before he proceeded to fall over onto his back.

"Why can't you get it through your head!? Customer service equals love and love equals a successful restaurant. Pleasant greetings to the customer is what it's all about. The customer is always right. And in case you still don't understand what I'm trying to say, I'll spell it out for you, the customer is king!"

"The only kingly customers are the ones who stomach the slop that you call food." Sanji spat.

Before Patty could rebuttal, Fullbody sat up, apparently coming to. "You're gonna regret this, all of you. No restaurant should treat it's customers like this. I'll shut you down, do you understand me? I will shut you down! This entire place is done! This whole restaurant is finished, do you hear me!?" The marine shouted. As he did, the woman that was his date, that up until this point had been in a corner watching, concerned for him, came to his side to try and help him up. He jerked away from her grasp as she did, getting her to back away from him once more.

"Then maybe I should just finish you off right now." Sanji threatened.

Fullbody's head shot up, to where he could see his attacker's face, obviously shocked by his words.

As the blonde moved forward to make good on his threat, three chefs rushed out from the back and began trying to restrain him. "Arrogant assholes like you who think they're such big shots that they can push anyone around really piss me off!" He yelled, as he tried to get though the three other chefs holding him back to the pink haired man. He was just about to manage to, when Patty began helping the three, now making it four of his fellow cooks that were holding him back from the lieutenant.

"You can't keep doing this to the restaurant every other day sous chef Sanji!" One of the cooks cried, the swirly browed man not paying him any attention as he did.

"Your not such a big shot now, are ya? Are ya!?" Sanji shouted at the somewhat frightened looking pink haired marine.

"Hey Sanji! I can't have you going on another rampage in here you idiot! Calm down!" Zeff ordered, as he came out from the back.

"Put a cork in it old man!" Was the blonde teen's response. Nevertheless though, his attempts to get at the man came to a halt, the other cooks letting him go, as he turned to face his boss.

"Oh, now you're ordering me around!? Just who do you think you're talking to!?" He demanded of his fellow blonde. "Do you want to sink my restaurant to the bottom of the sea, you punk!? Is that why you won't leave!?"

Sanji seemed to calm a bit at that, the words having some kind of affect on him. "That isn't what I want at all. I-"

"Just get out already!" Zeff cried, as he rammed his peg leg into the side of Sanji's face, causing him to stumble several feet, almost falling over as he did, but he managed to catch himself and keep on his feet.

Fullbody couldn't help but grin as the teen who had just kicked him around got kicked himself. "You too! Get your ass out of my restaurant!" The old blonde man hollered, giving the pink haired man a good kick to the face as well, knocking him back several feet, the marine landing on his front side this time and sliding a few more feet across the floor.

"What kind of restaurant is this!? That boss is like a gangster! It's almost as if...as if this was a pirate ship." Fullbody thought to himself, as he struggled to get up off the floor.

All the patrons of the Baratie had their attention caught by the spectacle that was taking place, but when just one of them bothered to look away, doing so to look out the window, they saw a sight that caused fear to fill them. "It's them, they're here! The hourglasses mean our time is up!"

This shouting from one of the customers caught everyone's attention, as they all followed suit and looked out the same window he had. Upon doing so, another man began squawking in fright, just like the first. "What are we gonna do now!? That flag means death! There's no doubt, it belongs to the ruler of the East Blue, Don Krieg!"

"The Krieg pirates are here!" A third person screeched, sending everyone into a panic, as he and all the other customers hurried out of the establishment to pile into the boats they had arrived in, so as to get out of there as fast as they could, going out the back as they did, not caring that they weren't allowed through there.

As the customers ran out of the establishment, all the cooks in the back came to the front, and all the ones upstairs came down, so as to see what was going on.

"The Krieg pirates!?" Fullbody whispered harshly to himself. "What are they doing here!?"

"I told you! I knew those goons would show up! Now are you going to get rid of those guys or what!?" Carne asked frantically, the man having come downstairs a few moment ago.

"This can't be real! He's got a whole fleet to command, why would Don Krieg come here for revenge for just one man!? I mean, doesn't he have anything better to do!?"

"Look outside Patty, he's here, whether you believe it or not!" Carne yelled.

Patty did just that, coming so close his nose nearly touched the glass, as he looked out at the galleon that was Don Krieg's ship. "It really is him!" The hairy cook yelled. That's when he noticed something else though, "Hey look!"

One of the other cooks came and had a closer look as well. "Whoa, their ship is all beat up."

Carne came the window then. "Yeah look, the figure head is broken off, the hull is cracked, the sails are torn up and the mast is wobbling. The thing looks like it was hit by a damn hurricane!"

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku burst in then, "Old man Zeff, we need a boat, now!"

"Now's really not the time boy, we've got company." The former pirate stated seriously.

Patty had turned around to see who had burst in, and as he did, he began to shout at the straw hat teen, "Hey! You're bleeding all over our floor ya damn crook!"

Blood was indeed flowing out of the knife wound in his hand, since the blade hadn't gone all the way through though, it was the fact that the liquid was trickling down his hand to his palm that allowed drops of it to reach the ground.

The raven haired pirate didn't pay him any mind however, as his tone become harsher, "I said now Zeff!"

"You can't talk to our boss like that!" Two of the chefs yelled together.

Zeff on the other hand, merely took a look into the young man's eyes, and seeing the emotions swirling in them, knew he was deathly serious. "I see. You two, go got him the boat we use for shopping."

"Boss Zeff-" They attempted to protest.

"Now!"

Raising his voice did the trick, as the two scrambled off to go get the boat.

"Luffy, what's wrong? What happened?" Sanji inquired, as the sixteen year old and his friends moved towards the blonde.

Before the teen could explain what had happened to his chef friend, the doors were thrown open once more, two more individuals entering the restaurant.

The first man was tall and muscular, with short cut gray hair, long sideburns and slightly pale skin. He wore somewhat regal attire, said attire consisting of a yellow vest with black spots all over it and purple lining, a fur lined coat over that, black fur lined gloves, light purple pants, black normal style shoes and a big gold chain around his neck. Anyone who had seen his bounty poster would recognize this man as Don Krieg.

The second man, who was supporting the first so he could stand, was relatively thin and of average height, with short, scruffy black hair and scruffy facial hair, his skin tone being pale as well, though a different shade than the first man. There were dark circles under his eyes, as though he hadn't slept in days, though that wasn't the case. As for what he wore, an open gray jacket with red sea-serpent designs on each side of the front of it, along with a single red sea-serpent over two crossed bones on the back, a green shirt underneath, gray pants matching his jacket, a gray headband with blue stripes around it and some orange spherical earrings on each ear. Everyone here would recognize this man as Ghin, as they had seen him three days earlier.

"I beg you...I need food...and water. We have money...lots of it. Please...it's been so long, I don't even remember the last time I ate. Please kind Sirs, I need food and drink. I'm...begging you." The first man wheezed out, sounding weaker than a frail child as he did.

Sanji was already halfway up the stairs as he finished, which is why Zeff remained still and did not intervene.

Fullbody was against the wall, using it to support himself as he finally managed to get to his feet. "This place is getting even crazier than it already was, I need to get out of here, quick, while I have the chance." With that thought in his head, he moved toward his date, going to get her and return to his ship, so he could get the hell out of there.

"How can this be? What's going on here?" One of the chefs whispered to his colleagues.

"Where's the death and destruction? Is this really the Don Krieg, commodore of the grand pirate fleet?" Patty quietly questioned to himself and the other chefs.

The man tried to step forward then, but ended up wobbling, before falling face first onto the floor, in spite of the attempts Ghin made to keep him up on his feet. "C-Captain? Don Krieg?" Ghin tried to get a response from the man, but was unable, only his breathing letting him know he was still alive.

"Please help him! Our Captain is on the brink of starvation, he could die!" Ghin pleaded with the chefs. "He hasn't had a single bite to eat in days, he'll die if he doesn't get some food soon!"

His begging was for not, as all the cooks did was stare back at him, some in fear, some in concern, some with cold eyes and others with blank expressions, but none moved to help his captain.

"I know he's a fearsome pirate and all, but are they really just going to let him die like that?" Usopp asked his friends and himself, unsure of what the right thing to do was in this situation, but feeling that the man should be fed regardless.

"He is known as Foul Play Krieg, the dirtiest, most underhanded pirate on the seas. But...he is offering to pay them." Johnny put forth in the larger than average man's favor.

"And with only one of his ships here and with it in such bad condition, it's not like he'd want to risk conflict right? Besides, he'd probably be so grateful that he'd leave in peace, especially if they feed him for free like Sanji did with Ghin." Yosaku added.

"Who knows and who cares? This isn't our problem. We need to focus on getting our ship back." Zoro stated evenly.

"Big Bro..." Johnny and Yosaku both said, unsure of how to feel about what he had just said.

Usopp too looked like he found what the man had said a little harsh.

What surprised all three of them, was who agreed with him. "Zoro's right." Luffy said, getting Usopp's, Johnny's and Yosaku's eyes on him. "This isn't our problem, so there's no reason to get involved. What's important now is that we catch up with Nami. So no matter what they decide to do with him, do not get involved." He ordered.

The long nosed sniper's eyes widened as he said this, but after a few moments of it sinking in, he let it be. "Understood Captain."

Patty stood tall, his fists pushed against his hips, as he began to laugh. "Hahahahahahahahah! This is great! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! The great Don Krieg groveling before us, priceless!"

"We have money, we're here as customers this time, I swear!" Ghin informed, trying to persuade the cooks.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Patty asked of the pirate. "Hey, you down there, you're lieutenant Ironfist Fullbody aren't you? Now's your chance, take Krieg into custody." The hairy cook called down to the pink haired marine.

Hearing his name called, the marine man turned to where he heard it from. And as the chef finished speaking, pointing to the starving Krieg as he did, the bloodied man realized just what kind of opportunity had been laid before him. "He's right, with Krieg starving like this, there's no way he could escape from me again. If I brought him in, Moodie and everyone else here would forget about the shame that damn waiter caused me. I can regain face and get promoted at the same time. I'll become Lieutenant Commander Ironfist Fullbody, and, since it is the great Don Krieg after all, perhaps they might even jump me up a few more ranks. Captain Ironfist Fullbody, yeah, I like the sound of that."

A grin crossed his face, as he prepared to reach out and grab the opportunity that had been presented to him. First though, he told his date, who's name was Moodie, to return to the ship, where she'd be safe.

"What?" Ghin asked, hoping he had heard the hairy man wrong.

"He's finally weak enough to be captured, this may never happen again, and I'm not gonna ruin it by helping him get his strength back." Patty explained bluntly, causing Ghin to grit his teeth in anger.

"He's right, who knows what he'll do if he gets on his feet again." One of the chefs said, agreeing with Patty

"He's done terrible things, and as soon as he's up, he'll keep on doin'em. I say we let him starve!" Another chef shouted.

"Once he's back in good condition, he'll kill every last person in this restaurant. So he won't get so much as a glass of water from me." A third cook stated.

Straightening himself up the best he could, Fullbody stepped forward then. "Alright then, Don Krieg, I am placing you under arrest, in the name of justice."

It was obvious none of them would help, Krieg was going to die at this rate. Ghin's desperation became even more clear, as he looked almost ready to cry, his eyes closed tight as his body shook a little. "I won't do anything." Krieg rasped out, as he got onto his hands and knees. "I won't do anything." He repeated. "Once I eat, I promise I'll leave quietly. So please, be merciful. Help me...please."

Ghin's eyes shot open, as he tried to get Krieg to stop his begging. "You're the king of the East Blue Don Krieg, stop it! Please don't reduce yourself to this! You're better than a common beggar! Please Sir, what about your pride!?" To no avail.

"I promise, I'll leave in peace when I'm done. Please, I'll take the scraps, I-I'll take anything...anything." Krieg implored.

No longer able to watch this, Ghin looked away, closing his eyes tight once more, so as to keep the tears building in his eyes from coming out.

Usopp couldn't sit back and watch anymore. "This is just wrong! He's on his hands and knees begging for just a bit of food, and they won't even spare some scraps!? He already promised he'd leave in peace once he ate!"

As he moved forward to intervene however, he was stopped, as someone grabbed him by the shoulder from behind, halting him. The long nosed teen turned his head to see Zoro was the one who had him by the shoulder. "Remember Luffy's orders? Do not get involved, no matter what they decide to do with that guy. Our top priority is catching up with our ship. Nothing else matters right now."

Usopp's teeth were grit in anger, but, reminded of Luffy's order, stood down. "Alright, I won't get involved." He said begrudgingly.

Johnny and Yosaku were under no obligation to follow Luffy's orders, but, following Zoro's example, did not get involved, in spite of their feelings about the situation.

"Where are those guys with that ship?" Luffy questioned, his irritation showing. They needed to be chasing after Nami, not standing around in this establishment. They should have been gone five minutes ago.

"You just had to tie your ship to the Going Merry didn't you guys?" Zoro questioned Yosaku and Johnny, also annoyed that they had no way to follow after the woman.

"We're sorry Big Bro." They said in unison, hanging their heads as they did, feeling like failures.

"Heh. Boohoo, everyone cry your eyes out for the cruel pirate." Patty mocked.

"Hey, step aside Patty." Sanji said, before ramming his heel into the man's face, ramming him into the wall and knocking him unconscious, the wall cracking from the force of the blow.

As the hairy man fell forward onto the floor, bleeding from his nose as he did, Sanji stepped past him to stand in front of the two kneeling pirates, as well as Fullbody. Who, just as he was going to try and grab ahold of Krieg, received a foot to the face as well, the kick from the blonde sous chef sending him flying into the wall opposite of the one Patty had been kicked into, the pink haired man groaning in pain before falling back onto the floor once more.

"S-Sanji..." Ghin said, almost disbelieving of his presence.

"Here's something for your captain." The well dressed blonde said softly, as he knelt and put a bowl full of food down before the two, as well as large glass bottle of water.

"Thank you Sanji." Ghin responded just as softly.

"Thank you!" Krieg offered his thanks, before beginning to scarf down the food, using his hands to eat, scooping up large handfuls of said food, showing just how hungry he was.

"You dimwit! Get that food away from him right now Sanji! Don't you realize he's a cold, heartless killing machine!?" Carne shouted. "This is the man known as the ruler of the East Blue, the most treacherous of all pirates!" He exclaimed fearfully. "Since day one as a pirate he's been as underhanded as they come! He stole a marine ship after wiping out it's crew and used it's flag to enter ports, then lay waste to the unexpected cities and settlements there. He even waved the white flag before attacking enemy ships, to lure them into a false sense of security, so that they were easy prey. He will do absolutely anything to secure victory. He's also unmatched in physical combat. With all that, do you really think he'll just leave us alone!? Well I've got news for you, that's not possible with a blood thirsty killer like him! He deserves nothing more than death!"

Everyone's attention was then pulled to Krieg, as he finished eating and slammed the bottle of the water onto the floor, almost cracking it as he did. He stood, before proceeding to clothesline the very man that had just shown him such kindness, ramming his large arm into the blonde's throat, the force behind it taking him off his feet and almost, almost causing his cigarette to fall from his mouth, as he flew back into the wall, falling down to his knees afterward, just barely managing to keep from collapsing onto the floor as he did.

"Sanji!" Luffy shouted, surprised by what had just happened, several of the cooks echoing his shout of the blonde's name.

"After what he just did for him!? How could he!?" Usopp asked incredulously.

"That dirty bastard!" Johnny and Yosaku said together.

Ghin, still on his knees, looked to Krieg then. "This is not what we agreed on! You gave me your word! I only brought you here because you promised that you wouldn't destroy this place, or hurt the man who saved me, who saved us!" He yelled heatedly.

Krieg ignored him, as his eyes roamed the floating establishment they were standing in. "Hmm, this is a pretty good ship. I do believe that I'll be taking it." He stated, a smug smile crossing his face, as his intimidation clearly was working on all these chefs.

Sanji managed to get to his feet then, just a bit of blood dribbling from the left corner of his mouth. "I see, so that's how it is huh?"

Patty came too, as he got into a sitting position on the floor, his head still spinning.

"As you can all see, my ship is a wreck. Naturally I'll be needing a nice new one." He stated, his smile widening a bit as he did. "Which is why I'll be taking yours. So, after a few small chores, every last one of you will leave the ship."

"What!? No!" Carne cried.

"Don Krieg, you promised, please don't." Ghin pleaded.

"There are about two hundred men left on board my ship. All are weak with hunger and some are seriously wounded. If you value your lives, you will prepare food and water for all of them. I've lost too many men to starvation already, and I will not lose anymore. So prepare those meals, now!" Krieg ordered.

"You want us to feed our executioners!? Do you realize how stupid that is!? Why would-"

"Out of my way!" Zeff commanded, shoving the cook who was speaking aside, cutting him off as he did, as he made it to the stairs and proceeded to climb them.

"Boss, what are you-"

Sanji was the one to cut him off this time. "What does it look like he's doing? He's going to prepare two hundred meals. Now if you'll excuse me, he'll need my help."

"WHAT!? ARE YOU TWO CRAZY!?" All the cooks cried together in unison.

The blonde moved past the other chefs, ignoring their cry as he did, and made his way upstairs as well. As he did, Ghin got to his feet and looked up at him. "Sanji...Sanji I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Ya see!? Look what you brought on this restaurant you stupid bastard!" Patty screamed after him.

Sanji just waved them both off, as he disappeared onto the next level of the establishment.

"I don't know what's wrong with our Boss or Sanji, but I'm not going to let this happen!" Patty declared. "Sanji and I think even our Boss bring free food to the bums I kick out of this place over and over again. And I'm not about debate over who's wrong or right in that particular situation, but this time, they're just flat out wrong. We can't let them do it again, not this time. We have to protect this place, and we're damn well going to." He began moving to the stairs then. "Fortunately we have numbers on our side. I mean it is Don Krieg, but what can he do against all of us? In a joint like this, pirate scumbags come and go all day. We are fully prepared to serve any kind of customer, and that includes dealing with the ones who want to skimp out on paying the bill or the ones who threaten us."

He came to a stop at the bottom step, before crouching down to get to a hidden cabinet below the staircase, which he opened and began rooting around in. "I really hope you saved room for dessert." Patty said, obviously talking to Krieg as he did. "Cause I have a secret recipe..." He pulled something covered in a cloth out of the cabinet then, standing and turning to face the two pirates as he did, removing the cloth from the object, revealing it to be a very large red cannon with eye ornaments, the thing supposed to look like some kind of shrimp. "...that is truly to die for! Open wide, here comes the meatball of doom!" He proceeded to fire the cannon then.

With a large flash, a small cannonball came flying out of the red contraption, aimed directly at Krieg's chest, said ball hitting it's mark dead on, making a whole bunch of noises on impact that one couldn't distinguish one sound from another. From it being fired, the room was filled with smoke, blocking most people's vision.

"Don!" Ghin called worriedly.

"I might have broken the door." Patty pointed out. "I sure hope Zeff doesn't yell at me again."

"He might go easy on you, considering you saved the restaurant and all." One of the other cooks offered.

As the smoke finally began to clear up, a voice was heard. "Are you a chef...or a comedian? For your sake, you'd better be a chef, because your jokes are lame. Then again, you'd be a awful cook as well, as that desert was terrible, the worst I've ever had!"

The smoke was finally cleared out, revealing Krieg as the one speaking, looking no worse for ware. His shirt and coat were gone, having been destroyed from the attack, leaving him in what had been underneath. Golden armor, consisting of a chest plate, shoulder guards with his jolly roger painted on them, and elbow guards. The sleeves of the brown shirt he wore underneath it were visible, thanks to the armor not being full body.

"He survived that!?" Questioned Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku incredulously.

Krieg's anger from being shot with that cannon was clear, but before he could strike back, Zeff came walking down, Sanji following behind. Once they were down on the level everyone else was, they both dropped large sacks almost the size of their bodies onto the ground in front of Krieg. "This is about two hundred meals. Now take it to your men right away."

"Boss Zeff, no!" Several of the cooks cried.

"You're...Red Foot Zeff." Krieg stated, clearly shocked to see the man.

The man with the peg leg turned around and began walking away from Krieg then, Sanji following along as well.

"W-wh-what are you doing!? You can't be serious!" One of the chefs cried.

"If all of those pirates get their strength back, the restaurant will get completely taken over!" Another chef shouted,

"That would be true...if they still had the will to fight that is." Zeff explained, before coming to a stop and turning to face Krieg once more. "Tell me, did your will survive defeat?" The old blonde man inquired.

"That...can't be. The great Don Krieg...was defeated?" One of the chefs muttered to himself, his disbelief evident.

"Whoa, not even he could do it. Even a pirate fleet with fifty ships couldn't make it on the Grand Line!" Another chef stated in amazement.

"It is you, isn't it?" Krieg seemed to come to the conclusion that it was. "So, you are alive. Red Foot Zeff, the unrivaled pirate captain, who was also the ship's cook."

"Yes, that's right, I'm still alive. But what's any of that got to do with you? I haven't been a pirate in many years now, I chose the life of a cook." Zeff told him.

Krieg had a small fit of laughter at that, speaking once it was over. "Chose the life of a cook huh? Yeah right. You didn't have a choice old man. You live as a cook because the only thing you can be now is a cook. You used to be known far and wide as a master of deadly kicks who never used his hands in battle. It was said that with your mighty legs you could crush bedrock into sand and leave footprints on solid steel. Red Foot referred to your boots, as they became soaked in the blood of your enemies as you kicked them down." Krieg explained, retelling the legend of Red Foot Zeff. "You know it really is a pity that you no longer have that precious leg of yours. How unlucky for you to have such an accident at sea. Now that your greatest weapon has be sacrificed to the sea, you're defenseless, completely unable to fight."

"I don't need to fight anymore, I'm a cook. As long as I have my two hands for that, I'll be just fine. Now enough chitchat, let's get to the point, what do you want from me?" Zeff questioned the larger man.

"Red Foot...you're the man who sailed the perilous waters of the Grand Line and came back unscathed, impressive. There should be a log book detailing your tactics, a full year of your journey there. Give it to me, now!" Krieg demanded of the blonde old man.

"Wow, so that old guy used to be a pirate on the Grand Line?" Usopp asked his captain.

"Yeah, Pops Zeff told me about it when I was staying here. He didn't tell me anything big really, just that he used to have a crew of his own and that he sailed the Grand Line for a year before returning from it." Luffy answered his long nosed friend, the usual happy go lucky tone of his missing, obviously close to shouting at this point, still waiting on that boat those two chefs had been sent to get.

"My log book huh? You're right, I do indeed have a record of my travels." Zeff confirmed. "But I will never hand it over to you."

"Huh?"

"You ignorant brute, that log book is sacred to me. It's the pride of the crew that I sailed with. It's far too important to give to you."

"Alright, I'll take it by force then!" Krieg proclaimed. "Yes it's true that the Grand Line beat me, still, I will never give up on it, for I am Don Krieg! In the end, it's just another ocean. I had enough weapons and men and ambition! Regrettably, the only thing I lacked was information. I just didn't know enough. But now I'll fix all that. Once I have your log book I'll form another pirate fleet and seize the legendary One Piece. Then I will stand as the ruler of this great pirate era!"

Luffy lowered his head at that, causing his hat to shadow his eyes a bit, before beginning to move towards Krieg, only saying this before he did. "Get me when those guys bring the boat around."

"Shit." Zoro cursed.

"Oh no." Usopp said worriedly.

"What, what is it?" Johnny asked.

"What's wrong?" Yosaku asked as well.

"He just had to say it didn't he?" Sanji questioned to himself and the others, as he came to stand next to the four.

"What are you guys talking about?" The bounty hunting duo inquired, confused as to what was going on.

"Luffy holds his dream of becoming Pirate King almost as sacred as he does his friends. So, whenever someone shoots off at the mouth, claiming they'll be the Pirate King, especially when it's someone like Krieg...well...he gets fighty, real fighty." Usopp explained.

"When he was staying here, he got into a scrap with an entire crew of fifty guys when one drunkenly said he'd be the Pirate King and refused to take it back." Sanji added.

"And with where his mind's at right now...it's not going to be pretty for that Krieg guy." Zoro finished.

Luffy came to a stop before Krieg, only three feet from the man, as he raised his head so their eyes could meet, and proclaimed, "No you won't. Because I am the one who'll be King of the Pirates!"

Several of the chefs gasped at that, while Zeff smirked at the boy.

"Did you just say something kid?" Krieg questioned, attempting to give the teen a chance to take it back.

"You heard me. I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King!" He exclaimed.

Krieg growled in aggravation at that. "Spout stupid nonsense like that again and see what happens boy!"

"Stupid or not, I'm the one who's going to conquer the Grand Line, that's a fact."

"No you won't!" Krieg shouted. "It's true that we didn't have the information we needed, but my fleet of five thousand men was wiped out in just seven days you brat! That sea is hell!"

"What? One week? Don Krieg's fleet was wiped out in just one week!?" Patty questioned disbelievingly.

"Unfortunately for you, I don't find your smart ass remarks very amusing. If you continue this idiotic behavior, I'll crush you right here and right now." Krieg stated, trying to intimidate the younger man.

"I'm not in the mood for games. So if you keep up your idiotic behavior and don't take back what you said, then I'll have to crush you!" The straw hat pirate said, throwing the older man's words back in his face, his anger beginning to show through.

Looking close to snarling, he ordered Ghin to take the bags of food to his men, before venting his anger, taking one of his gloves off, revealing one of his diamond embedded gold gauntlets, that enhanced his strikes as he did. "You dare speak to me that way you damned brat!? I am by far the world's strongest man! Arms so strong that they're like solid steel! Wootz steel body armor, that is completely impenetrable! And diamond fists that could pound this entire world into dust! In addition to the weapons on my body, I have a fleet of fifty ships with five thousand pirates! My record is perfect, I have won every single battle that I've ever been in! I am Don! And I am the only one fit to be called Don! When compared to me, you are noth-"

Krieg was interrupted mid rant, as Luffy rammed his fist into his face, shutting him up and sending him flying back out of the restaurant, breaking the doors off their hinges and taking them with him as he did. "Shut the fuck up already!" The rubber man cried.

Seeing Don Krieg sent flying outside with one punch caused all the chefs, minus Sanji and Zeff of course, to drop their jaws to the floor in shock. "He...he just sent Don Krieg, the greatest pirate in the East Blue, flying with a single punch!"

"H-how is that possible!?" Several chefs shouted in disbelief.

Johnny's and Yosaku's eyes were wide as could be, as they now understood what Usopp meant by fighty, and what they all meant by touchy about the subject of Pirate King. "Oh...that's what you guys meant." They said in unison, still in shock.

"Yep." Sanji told them.

"Yeah." Zoro confirmed.

"Uh huh." Usopp affirmed, nodding his head as he did.

While ninety five percent of the people gawked at Luffy, he popped a crick in his neck, before heading outside, following after Krieg.

Sanji pulled the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled all the smoke he had taken in then, before placing it back once more, as he moved to follow the straw hat pirate. "I better go and make sure he doesn't get in over his head."

"Sounds like a plan." Zoro said, going too.

"Well...I, uh, guess I'll come too." Usopp stated, going as well, trying to hide the fear bubbling up in him as he did.

"W-wait for us!" Johnny and Yosaku cried, as they quickly followed after them.

As they all exited the establishment, Zeff spoke up. "Every chef here did what they felt was right, do not begrudge each other for what you've done, and that includes Sanji."

"Boss Zeff, why are you acting like you're taking Sanji's side!? This mess is his fault!" Patty stated heatedly.

"He's right, Sanji is responsible for this whole damn thing!" Several chefs cried, agreeing with Patty.

"Yeah Boss, that man is going to put your precious restaurant out of business!" Another dozen cooks shouted in agreement with those words.

"YOU FOOLS DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Zeff shouted near the top of his lungs, getting them all to shut up in the process. "None of you have any idea what it's like to be on the brink of starvation, to have no food or water on the open ocean. There is no way you can possibly understand what a terrifying prospect that is. It is possibly the most difficult situation a man could ever face." The old man told them.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about Chef Zeff." Patty admitted, not understanding what his boss was going on about.

"Exactly. You don't know. That's the difference between all of you and Sanji, Sanji knows." Zeff explained.

"What is the boss trying to say?"

"I don't understand, what's he saying that Sanji knows?"

"If all you're going to do is stand around grumbling, then leave this place and never come back." Zeff told them evenly, his tone more than enough to let them know he was serious.

"I for one am going to stay and fight! I couldn't live with myself if I accepted defeat!" Patty exclaimed.

"I'm staying too! After all, this is our restaurant isn't it!?" One of the chefs asked with zeal.

"That's right!" Several of them cried in unison.

"This place is all I have, I won't abandon it!" Another of the chefs shouted.

"This restaurant is ours, and I'll fight to keep it that way!" Carne proclaimed.

"Then stand and fight! Let's go help that young man show the Krieg pirates what's for! Let's show them not to mess with the battle cooks of the fighting Baratie!" Zeff rallied them with these words.

"YEAH!" They all cried together.

"You, go to the control room and bring up the fins!" Zeff ordered, the chef he spoke to rushing to do what he said.

"And you, go see what's taking so long with that shopping boat!" The old man ordered another chef, who rushed off to comply.

Once the one who had been told to go to the control room came back and said the fins were up, Zeff spoke once more, "Now let's go!"

* * *

Ghin and the rest of Krieg pirates could only stare in shocked silence, their jaws dropped to the deck of their ship, as Krieg came flying out of the Baratie toward them. He flew over their heads until he rammed into the mast, causing it to crack and creak, before it was forced to tilt backward from the impact of it's captain's body. The golden armor wearing man fell to the deck only a moment later, the deck creaking and cracking as well when he hit it face first.

"D-Don K-Krieg...s-sir...?" Ghin questioned disbelievingly, sure his eyes were deceiving him, after all, how could the great Don Krieg lose to anyone?

The larger than average man, after lying face down for a few moments, got to his hands and knees, as he climbed to his feet, wobbling just a tad as he tried to stand erect. Once he was standing erect, the damage that had been done could be seen. His nose had been broken, blood trickling out of his nostrils in two full ribbons, and there was also some of the red life liquid in both corners of his mouth, dribbling down past his lips, slowly reaching toward his chin.

"A-are you alright Captain?" One of the men, who had just finished eating, asked fearfully, scared that the man might have been messed up from whatever damage that had been inflicted on him.

No more than a moment after he asked this, a gun shot was heard, the bullet coming from Krieg himself, who had pulled a flintlock pistol out of nowhere, holding it in his left hand, the only hand still covered by a glove as he had dropped the other when flying over here, the barrel still smoking as the man's body hit the deck. "Does it look like I am a child!? Do not question my strength! This is nothing to me, the world's strongest man!" His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and almost crazy looking as he declared this.

"World's strongest man my ass!" Luffy shouted, as he lept up onto their galleon, all eyes shooting to him now that he was on their deck.

Krieg snarled at the teen for those words. Keeping his temper in check for just a few more seconds, he began to bark orders at his crew. "Men! It's only a matter of time before what's left of our flagship falls apart, we need that ship! Take it! Take it and kill anyone who stands in your way! Ghin, make sure Pearl's at full strength, and then I want you both to join the fray! Leave this punk to me! I will show him the might of the world's strongest man!"

"YES SIR DON KRIEG!" The entire crew cried together.

They gathered up their swords, maces, bats, clubs and guns and raced to the end of the ship, before lowering ropes so they could climb down the ship into the water, where they could swim over to the Baratie. Fortunately for them, two large decks came up from submersion on both sides of the restaurant, allowing them a foot hold and an area to fight so they didn't have to ruin the inside of the establishment, it also allowed them to drop right onto the thing, rather than having to swim to it.

* * *

Shortly after Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, Yosaku and Johnny came out of the Baratie, two large decks came up, connecting with the restaurant on the front side and back side of the place, actually giving them space to move around.

"Whoa! That's cool!" Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku exclaimed.

"Now we have a place to fight, good." Zoro remarked.

"Good idea Geezer." Sanji said aloud, knowing the old man had to have been the one to put the fins of the Baratie into play.

That's when the Krieg pirates were seen climbing down ropes, some of them stopping halfway and just dropping down onto the fin below their feet, all of them coming down onto the now larger deck of the Baratie. They waited until they had a good couple dozen guys before charging the place, even more men still coming down off of the galleon as they did.

"Mind if I go first?" Sanji asked somewhat politely.

N-no p-problem." Usopp answered, his knees beginning to shake upon seeing all the men coming down, just dozens and dozens appearing one after the other.

"W-we don't mind at all." Yosaku and Johnny said together, also intimidated by the sheer numbers of the Krieg pirates.

"Be my guest. It is your restaurant after all." Zoro Responded.

"Thanks." Sanji replied to them, as he took a few steps forward, so as to meet the group charging the establishment on the fin.

As all the cooks came out of the restaurant, bearing weapons as they did, they stopped to watch Sanji, as he made the first move.

All the men charging brandished their weapons, ready to kill the blonde, intent on going through him to get to their target. Just as they reached him though, he swayed out of the way of a few strikes, before pivoting forward into them, putting himself in the middle of the large group of men. As they prepared to make him pay for that decision, they realized, that at the end of his pivot, he had turned upside down because he broke into a hand stand. Less than a split second later, he was spinning, deliver furious kicks to each and every one on the men, knocking out each pirate with a single kick. "Party Table Kick Course!"

As he spun around kicking, the Krieg pirates began to get sent flying, each one that met with the blonde's foot to their face was sent flying in whatever direction they got kicked in, usually ending up falling into the water, the force behind each kick strong enough to take the men off of the Baratie entirely.

This attack soon came to an end, as he ran out of guys to kick, the other Krieg pirates realizing it did no good to try and approach him like that, as they'd just get hurt too. Once it did end, he returned his feet to the ground, standing up straight once more.

Seeing as how he had taken out nearly fifty guys with that move, the entire staff of the Baratie, minus Zeff who simply smiled proudly at the sight, broke into cheers then. "YEAH, WAY TO GO SANJI! SHOW'EM WHAT FOR!"

The blonde smirked at hearing the cheers, as it was rare to get recognition here.

"Not bad cook. Now, it's my turn." Zoro stated, unsheathing his blades as he did.

"It'll take more than that to defeat the mighty Krieg pirates!" One of them cried, before charging forward with his comrades, leading a couple dozen of them in a charge for the restaurant.

Zoro met them head on, weaving through them with his blades, blocking any and all weapon strikes they tried for along the way, cutting them up like turkeys as he did, coming out behind them, leaving them all on the ground, bleeding from slashes located somewhere on the front of their torsos.

He sheathed his blades, as he had taken them all down, they wouldn't be getting back up until this fight was over.

The chefs cheered for him as well, seeing as he had taken out even more guys than Sanji, leaving the total of men at about a hundred. Between the two, they had taken out half of Krieg's fighting force without so much as breaking a sweat.

"Big Bro Zoro is such a badass!" Both Johnny and Yosaku exclaimed almost giddily.

"Geez man, if that guy really does join our crew, we'll have three monsters on board." Usopp remarked to himself, feeling pretty small right about now.

"Just what do you guys think you're doing?"

Everyone on the Baratie turned to see where that voice came from, to see a peculiar man climbing out of the water and onto the front fin of the restaurant. Once out of the water and on his feet, he could be seen quite clearly.

He was a towering man with light skin and short black hair with a single curl dangling in front of his face, almost reaching his eyes. What made him peculiar however was his ensemble, which included two large iron plates covering his front and backside, a pale yellow tank top underneath them, as well as small plates on his elbows and kneecaps, with two more held in his hands, all with large pearls embedded in the middle of them. These plates of his are a shiny metal gray with black linings. He also wore dark purple pants that ended before the ankle, a light blue sash, light black shoes with white lining and big pearls on the top of them. Finally, he also wore a large pearl on his head, preventing most of his hair from being seen.

"Is he wearing iron plates with pearls in them!?" Johnny and Yosaku asked incredulously.

"He is! Just what kind of guy is he!?" Usopp questioned.

Sanji and Zoro both quirked a brow at the guy, both thinking, 'Really?'

Zoro let his brow return to it's normal position though, as he stepped forward. "What does it look like we're doing? We're kicking your asses."

"Looks like we've got a cocky one here. That's fine, I like fighting those best. It's fun to see their faces when they lose to me."

The green haired swordsman smirked at that. "Is that so?" He didn't turn back to address the others, though they could tell he was talking to them, as he said, "Leave this guy to me, I'll take care of him."

"Suit yourself." Was Sanji's response.

As more Krieg pirates began to step foot on the front fin of the Baratie, the cooks charged them, Patty and Carne leading the charge, so as to not let them get in close.

Before Sanji could say anything to them or follow in their charge, his attention was pulled to the area behind him, where he had heard the sound of someone hitting the ground and a gun being cocked. What he saw was Ghin with his foot on Zeff's back, a sawn-off shotgun in his hand, pointed at the old blonde man's head.

* * *

Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku watched as Ghin and Sanji had their confrontation, as Zoro began to fight Pearl, as the cooks clashed with the Krieg pirates and as the galleon in front of them was beginning to be torn apart by Luffy's fight with Krieg. All three of them did nothing but watch for a dozen long moments, each passing second making them feel more and more useless. Until, eventually, one of them couldn't take it anymore, the look on his captain's face when Nami was sailing away flashing in his mind kicking him into gear. "Ugh! I can't take this anymore! Luffy's counting on me, I'm supposed to be his Marksman, I need to make myself useful! You guys can stay here if you want, but I'm going to help fight!"

As Usopp hopped over the railing that was supposed to help keep customers from falling overboard, said railing useless now that the fins were up, Johnny and Yosaku were quick to agree. "He's right, we need to help too! For Big Bro Zoro and Big Bro Luffy!" Johnny stated, beginning to get hyped up.

"Right! We'll fight to help our Big Bros!" Yosaku agreed.

The swordsman duo proceeded to hop over the railing as well, following after Usopp as they did.

The three rushed to the cooks aid, as they were being overwhelmed, seeing as it was a hundred pirates versus just a little over a dozen cooks.

Johnny and Yosaku charged into the fray, swords drawn. "You guys are going down!" They cried together.

The two began to assist the cooks, slashing at the men they were locked in battle with, blocking strikes to guard them from harm, and occasionally teaming up to take a few guys down.

As those two did that, Usopp dropped to one knee a few feet back from everyone else, bringing his clear goggles down to cover his eyes as he did and brandishing his slingshot as well. Taking aim, he began to fire into the crowd, his skill and accuracy keeping him from hitting any of his allies.

"Exploding Star!" His first shot, takes a small bunch of them by surprise, multiple targets hit with the attack. Targets are only mildly harmed by the attack, but have been distracted, which allowed for Carne and a couple of other cooks to get them, taking them out of the fight.

"Flame Star!" Leg shot, pants ignited, target freaks out, fails to pay attention to the chef charging him, is killed as he is skewered on a abnormally large fork.

"Lead Star!" Throat shot, target clutches throat in pain, dropping his weapon in doing so, leaving him defenseless to an attack from one of the chefs, said chef hitting him with a very abnormally big spoon, knocking him unconscious and to the ground.

The pirates have figured out that there enemies have a sniper on their side, if their wandering eyes meant anything that is. They were searching for him, and as Usopp readjusted his aim, they caught sight of him. "Oh crap, he saw me!" Usopp said aloud to himself, worried for his safety, beginning to sweat knowing that the guy knew where he was. It was one man in particular though, so the inexperienced fighter fired at him next.

"Lead Star!" Nut shot, target drops to his knees, is dispatched by an uppercut from Patty.

That bought him a few moments, since that was the man who had spotted him.

"Exploding Star!" Face shot, target stumbles back in pain, is dispatched by Yosaku and Johnny giving him two good slashes from their swords.

"Flame Star!" Body shot, target begins to panic after being set aflame, jumps into the ocean to put himself out.

After letting a few more shots fly, the one who had jumped into the water came back out and spotted Usopp. The long nosed teen wasn't able to shut him up in time, and the pirates began coming for him, managing to knock a few of the cooks unconscious as they did.

"Oh no, oh shit, they're coming for me!" He harshly whispered in fright to himself, getting to his feet as he did.

* * *

The man with iron plates with pearls in them chuckled at Zoro when he said he would take care of him. "You're even cockier than I thought. Very well, let's do this. But, before we begin, it's only fair I give you a warning. I am Pearl The Invincible Shield!"

"So?" Zoro asked, sounding bored as he did. "I'll just cut right through your invincible shield." The swordsman claimed, unsheathing one of his swords as he did.

"Is that so?" Pearl questioned, a smug smirk crossing his face, his mirth clear. "I think not, for I am invincible you see, don't you understand what that word means?"

"I don't acknowledge words like invincible." The green haired man stated simply.

"Oh, I see. Are they too complex for your tiny brain to understand?" Pearl questioned mockingly.

"No, I don't acknowledge words like invincible because as far as I'm concerned, there isn't anyone in this world who can't be defeated!" He exclaimed passionately.

Pearl didn't chuckle at that, he outright had a laughing fit. His opponent waited patiently until it ended, and once it did, the dark haired man would speak once more. "That's how you feel huh? Then allow me to show you the meaning of invincibility. I've won all sixty of the battles I've been in completely and totally unscathed. It's quite remarkable really, no one has ever shed a single drop of my blood in battle, no one." He boasted.

A grin that many men would find frightening made it's way across Zoro's face at those words. "Is that so? Then that changes now. Because believe me, I will make you bleed."

Laughing once more, Pearl replied with this, "You can certainly try. I may be a gentleman, but I'm not gentle, so I won't make it easy for you."

"If your attacks are as weak as your jokes, then this is going to be even easier than I thought." Zoro stated mockingly, though still in a serious tone.

"Mock me all you like, it won't change the fact that you're outclassed! Pearl Surprise!" The large man pivoted forward and threw a strong right then, which Zoro used the blade he had drawn, the Wado, to block, the blow not even forcing him to skid back, the iron plate punch's momentum canceled out by the strength of the green haired teen's guard.

Pulling his plated fist back, Pearl conceded that his opponent was strong. "Maybe you do have some strength to back up your bravado. Still, that won't help you against me! Absolutely Natural Pearl Surprise!" Pearl brought all his weight back, before throwing it behind a strong right, the punch coming much faster and harder than the last one.

Zoro brought up the Wado to defend him once more, intercepting the punch head on, this one actually forcing him back about half an inch, maybe a little less, which is more than the last attack did, but was not nearly what Pearl had been expecting to happen. "Looks like I was wrong, your attacks actually are better than your jokes. Not much better, but better nevertheless."

"Argh! Make fun of me will you!? I'll show you!" He pulled his fist back then, before extending both arms out to his sides, and then bringing them racing together, where the iron plates he held in his hands would meet. The point where they would collide with each other was supposed to be Zoro's head. "Pearl Cymbals!"

But just before each plate could ram into his head, he raised his sword to defend from the right plate, while he just straight up stopped the left one with his hand, more than strong enough to do so. The swordsman, despite having stopped the black haired man's attack, leaving him shocked and defenseless for the moment, just pushed the plates away from him, the man not trying to bring them back, simply letting his arms fall to his sides after his attack was rendered incapable of being complete. "H-how could you be so strong?" Pearl questioned disbelievingly.

Zoro's grin widened. "Simple, I trained." He then performed a horizontal slash against the large plate on Pearl's front side, before following up with a vertical one.

Despite the fact that this didn't damage the swordsman's blade, Pearl began to laugh again. "You may be strong fool, but you aren't getting through these plates like that! You can't just cut them with a sword, that's not how it works! Besides, even battleship cannons can't destroy my iron pearl plates! I come out of every attack unharmed!"

"You sure about that?" Zoro asked him.

Pearl gave him a look of confusion, unsure of what he meant, until he looked down, to see there was a huge gash in his front plate, courtesy of Zoro's sword slash, the blade having almost ripped through the whole thing with one swing. "T-that I-I, that just isn't possible..." He stated in disbelief. That's when he saw blood, he could barely see it, but there was a bit of blood trickling down the bridge of his nose. Seeing it caused his eyes to widen considerably, his eyes going upward to try and see where he was bleeding from, to see a small cut on his forehead, he had been nicked by the tip of the teen's blade at best.

"That's when I'm not even trying. You want to see what happens when I'm serious?" Zoro asked intimidatingly.

"You aren't just mean, you're dangerous." Pearl stated, his eyes widening even further.

He began to clang his fist plates together then, the pearls slamming into each other every time they met, he did this again and again, over and over. And as he did, his breathing became irregular, short and fast breaths is what he was taking in. "Heh! Aah! hah! mah!" He repeated this noise as well, as the pounding of his plates together sped up.

"It's just a bit of blood, there's no need to freak out about it." Zoro said half condescendingly, half confused, haven't having seen something like this before.

"Danger! Danger! Danger! DANGER!" Pearl cried at the top of his lungs, as all his plates ignited into flames, the color of them blue, which complimented the pearls.

"Ah, ah, ah! Now, take this dangerous man! Fire Pearls Special Treat!" He cried, as he threw out about a dozen flaming pearls.

"What the!?" Zoro questioned, his eyes following these flaming pearls, as they hit different parts of the Baratie, setting it aflame the moment they touched it. "If I don't quit toying with this guy and end this, he'll burn the whole ship down!" Zoro said aloud to himself.

"Fire Pearl Surprise!" As Zoro turned his head back to Pearl, he had to bring his Wado up to defend against the hard left straight his opponent threw, his flaming plate slamming into the green haired man's sword, almost managing to force him to skid back.

Not wasting any time, Pearl pulled his arm back, before stepping back and pivoting forward, putting all his mass behind a strong right, that was aimed straight for the three sword style swordsman's face. "Absolutely Natural Fire Pearl Surprise!" He blocked this attack as well, said attack managing to force him back a good two inches, perhaps a little less, but leaving him unharmed.

"Argh! I will beat you! I won't lose! My record won't be tarnished!" Pearl shouted in desperation, before pulling his arm back and kicking Zoro in the chest, actually hitting him this time, causing him to skid back a few more inches.

Pivoting backward twice, he lept upward and forward, putting him about ten feet in the air above Zoro. He soon came plummeting down, and as he did, he moved to where he was coming down head first, aiming to ram down into the swordsman with his pearl helmet, using his weight to really make an attack that would hurt. "Flaming Tarnished Silver Surprise!"

Zoro quickly dodged this, jumping to the right just as Pearl hit, the man ramming down into the fin, breaking halfway through it with his head, cracking the deck several inches in all directions from the force of the landing.

As Pearl struggled to free his head, Zoro placed the Wado in his mouth and unsheathed his other two swords, gripping all three blades tight as the man got his head unstuck and turned to face him. "With my iron plates and these flames I am invincible! You can't beat me! You just can't!" He screamed at the swordsman.

"I don't care what you say, invincible, not invincible, it doesn't mean anything to me! I will defeat you and press onward, that is all that I'm certain of! Now let's end this!"

Zoro took a specific stance with his blades then, before lunging forward and unleashing his signature technique. "Oni Giri!"

With that all the iron pearl plates split in half, falling off of the man and onto the deck, the blue flames extinguished before they touched the wood, and three particular slash marks were carved into the larger man's abdomen, blood seeping from them as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed face first onto the damaged front in of the Baratie.

With his opponent defeated, Zoro sheathed all his blades, knowing that everyone else would finish up soon as well.

**Zoro vs Pearl**

**Winner: Zoro**

* * *

Johnny and Yosaku both noticed when the pirates switched focus from them and the cooks to Usopp, as not only were less of them coming at them, a few of them also yelled out, "Hey! Get that sniper in the back!"

They quickly rushed to help, but were prevented from actually going anywhere, as more of the Krieg pirates blocked them. "Where do you two think you're going?"

Gritting their teeth, the duo prepared to take them on. Before they had to though, Patty and Carne tackled the small group of pirates. "Go and help your friend!" Carne shouted.

"We'll hold back anyone who tries to stop you!" Patty added.

"Thanks you guys!" They said in unison, as they raced over to help Usopp out.

Usopp was currently running in circles, just barely managing to avoid being caught by the couple of Krieg pirates on his tail. He was faster than them sure, but he didn't have much room to move, otherwise he'd get caught up in one of the other two battles taking place on the fin. But as he came dangerously close to getting impaled by one guy with a sword, he decided that even if it was dangerous to do so, running to Zoro would be the best option. "Zoro, help me!"

Before he could get close enough to get the swordsman's attention however, fire pearls hit the deck in a dozen different spots, starting a large fire, which blocked the long nosed teen's path to both Zoro and Sanji, as well as begun to incinerate the unconscious Krieg pirates on the deck. "Ahh!" He cried in shock and fear, as he came to a quick stop, skidding a bit, just barely managing to prevent himself from going head first into the flames.

The pirates still behind him, he quickly got out of the way, just in time too, as Johnny and Yosaku came up from behind and rammed the guys into the fire, sending them head long into the flames.

"Johnny, Yosaku!" The marksman exclaimed in surprise.

"We got your back Big Bro Usopp!"

He couldn't help but smirk at that. "Y-yeah. Thanks guys."

Looking over to the cooks, several more of them having been knocked out by this point, Patty, Carne and five others were all that were left standing. "Let's go, they still need our help!" He said quickly, before rushing over to them to help.

"Right!" They both agreed, following behind him.

* * *

"I don't care how much of a badass he used to be, now he's just a cook. I wouldn't even have to break a sweat to kill this old fart. I'll spare him, but in return you'll all have to leave. Don Krieg wants this ship, so he's gonna get it, one way or another. So please, don't make this harder than it has to be Sanji, just leave. Don't force me to kill both of you, it's the last thing I want to do." Ghin's eyes were locked with Sanji's as he said all this, the barrel of the sawn-off still pressed firmly against the back of Zeff's head.

"Run away huh? Not a chance!" Sanji's reply surprised Ghin, the widening of his eyes made that evident.

"You look even dumber at gun point old man. What kind of example do you think you'd be setting for the other cooks if they could see you right now?"

"Heh. I don't need a lecture from a brat like you." The former pirate stated, not even seeming the slightest bit worried for his life.

"Would you stop calling me names!? Quit treating me like a kid!" Sanji yelled at his mentor.

Zeff scoffed at that. "I'll quit treating you like a kid when you quit acting like one."

Ignoring that remark, Sanji addressed Ghin then. "Hey Ghin, point that gun at me."

"Why you Sanji?" The armed man inquired. "Why are you doing this? Just leave the restaurant peacefully and no one gets hurt. Please, just leave."

Sanji's eyes narrowed at that. "This restaurant is that old man's life. I've already taken everything else that man holds dear. His power...his dreams...his pride, I stole it all from him. So as long as I'm around, I'm not gonna let anything else get taken from him!" He cried fiercely.

Ghin's eyes widened even further then, his shock more than evident. "Sanji..."

"I will fight to my dying breath to keep this restaurant out of Krieg's hands! The cooks of the Baratie and my friends have got the rest of your crew covered, so I just have to take you down and this will all be over! Prepare yourself Ghin, because now that you threaten to take away all that geezer has left, I won't show you any mercy!" Sanji proclaimed, a fire igniting in his eyes as he did.

Ghin's eyes remained wide for several moments, before they returned to their normal state. "I see. Alright then Sanji. If that's how it's going to be, I'll fight you with all that I have as well."

"Good, I'd prefer it that way." The blonde stated. "So then, who gets the first move?" He asked, his tone making it unclear whether he was being serious or not.

"I do." Ghin answered nevertheless, raising the sawn-off and firing it at the sous chef.

His eyes widened as the bullets came at him, quickly dodging to the side to avoid being hit by the spray of the shot gun. Mid dodge Sanji was intercepted, as Ghin threw the gun down and lunged forward, pulling out two tonfas tipped with big iron balls, almost as big as cannon balls as he did. The blonde's eyes widened, as he realized he didn't have much a way to defend himself at that point. "Shit!"

Before Sanji could finish his evasive maneuver and put his feet back on the ground, Ghin rammed both of these iron balls into his abdomen, causing him to spit up blood and spit out his cigarette, the force behind the two blows cracking several of his ribs and sending him to the deck and tumbling back several feet, almost falling off and into the ocean in the process.

The seventeen year old lie face down on the fin, a bit of blood smeared on his chin, which he wiped away, as he began getting to his feet. Once on his feet, he met eyes with Ghin once more, who now stood where Sanji would have if he had finished his dodge, grinding his foot into the cigarette the well dressed chef had accidentally spit out, putting it out, one tonfa resting on his shoulder, and spinning the other one in his other hand, the right hand, round and round as he did. "Look Sanji, I don't want to fight you. I really don't. I don't want to take this restaurant or ruin it either. I'm just following orders. There isn't anything I can do about that." He stated, as if it was that simple.

"If you say so. But if you think you can take this place over without killing me, then you've got another thing coming. So, you'll have to hit harder than that." He replied calmly, sneaking in a small insult as he did.

Ghin didn't even bother to recognize the insult. "Sounds fair enough. Then it'll be an absolute pleasure to kill you, my good friend." He said a bit coldly.

"Gee, that's comforting." Sanji stated sarcastically, pulling out a pack of smokes as he did. Seeing him pull this out and pull out another cigarette wouldn't surprise anyone who knew him, as he was a chain smoker. Placing the pack back in his suit jacket, he put the tobacco stick in his mouth, pulling his lighter out a second later and lighting up with it. "Asshole." Sanji spat Ghin's way under his breath, after managing to light his cigarette and before he put his lighter away.

Ghin lunged forward once more, still spinning the right tonfa as he brought the left down from his shoulders. He swung his left tonfa first, which Sanji back stepped to avoid being hit by, it almost grazing him as it past by. At the same time, he brought his right tonfa toward the smoking cook, aiming for his head, the strike potentially fatal considering all the momentum that had been built up from twirling it round and round. Before it could ram into his head though, the curly browed fighter raised his left leg and met the iron ball tipped tonfa head on with a kick, the force from both attacks canceling each other out, the strikes locked in a stalemate.

The tonfa wielding pirate began spinning the left tonfa then, bringing this one in for an attack much sooner than the right one had been. Pulling his left leg back and kicking out with it once more forced the right tonfa back away from him, the blonde using his right leg to stop his opponents left tonfa the same way he had with the right one. Pulling back once more and kicking out, knocking it away, he finally went on the offensive himself, bringing his left foot up for a good kick to his enemy's head. Only Ghin proceeded to block it with his right tonfa, bringing his left one up for another try at hitting the sous chef.

Seeing as this encounter wasn't going to get him anywhere, Sanji broke away, ducking under the left tonfa as he pulled his leg back from hitting the right one, bringing his right leg through for a sweep kick, to try and take his Krieg pirate opponent off his feet, which would leave him vulnerable to a follow up attack. Unfortunately, Ghin saw this coming and jumped over the leg at the last second, bringing his tonfas together as he did, intent on bringing them down on the man who stood in the way of Krieg claiming this ship.

Seeing as the heavy iron ball tips of the tonfas were coming down fast on him, Sanji quickly leaned back, placing his hands firmly on the deck as he did, putting himself into a handstand, as he kicked out with his legs, meeting the tonfas head on with kicks once more, killing their momentum and rendering them no longer dangerous. However, this is what the pirate had in mind when he tried for this, as his opponent was now vulnerable, because unlike him, this man would use all four of his limbs in a fight. So, the well dressed cook's back to him, he shot his right leg out, ramming his foot into the man's back, kicking him as hard as he could, knocking him forward onto his front, the blonde face down on the front fin of the Baratie once more.

He half groaned in pain, as he began climbing to his feet once more.

"I'm sorry Sanji, but I can't be defeated." Ghin said as if it was fact. He pivoted forward then, moving while his opponent was on his knees, bringing both tonfas in for a double strike, aiming for his neck and chest. "Now, time to die!"

"Yeah go ahead, keep telling yourself that." Sanji responded to Ghin's words, as he looked up at the man pivoting forward toward him, proceeding to roll forward at a slight left angle, breaking into a handstand as he did, avoiding the double attack, and allowing him to ram his left foot down into Ghin's upper back, the kick slamming him down into the deck, putting him on the ground for the first time since the fight began. "But I won't die so easily damn you!"

Righting himself, placing his feet firmly back down on the front fin of the Baratie, the smoking chef prepared for another strike, as his opponent got to his feet. When the tonfa wielder was up, Sanji served him a good spin kick to the chest, which he only barely managed to block with said tonfa, the force behind the kick still strong enough to send him skidding back a few feet from it.

Neither of the two made a move to attack each other after that, only staring one and other down for a few moments, the sounds of battle filling their ears as they did. Suddenly, Ghin's eyes widened, as he called out, "Wait, don't!"

Before the blonde could figure out what he was talking about, a blade burst forth out the front of his stomach, blood beginning to stain his clothing, while at the same time, another blade ripped it's way through his left leg, coming out his shin, his red life liquid covering the tip of the sword. "AHHHH!" He couldn't help but scream in shock and pain, taken by surprise by the sneak attack.

At the same time he cried out in pain, the front fin of the Baratie was set aflame, the fire helping to keep his voice from being heard, and also helping to keep him from being seen by anyone else.

He fell to his knees, as the swords were forcefully removed from his flesh, revealing the two Krieg pirates behind him that had gotten to him. They wore smug smiles, their eyes full of glee, showing that they enjoyed causing pain. "How's that? Pretty good, huh Chief Commander Ghin?" The first one asked.

The second one taunted Sanji. "You should have known better cook. Ghin is a cool headed, cold hearted demon. He shows no mercy, just like the rest of us Krieg Pirates. Picking a fight with him will get you killed, one way or another."

"Did I say you could interfere?"

Both men looked toward their chief commander as he said that, only to both have the wind knocked out of them, as the iron ball tips of his tonfa rammed into their abdomens, breaking all of their ribs. Then, with one more blow each, he sent them flying into the ocean. "This is my fight, no one else's." Ghin stated coolly.

Sanji, who was struggling to get to his feet, the pain in his torso, and even worse, his leg still fresh, the blood from the wound he had sustained to it seeping through his dark pant leg, had no way to defend himself. And Ghin took advantage of that, turning towards him and beginning to spin his tonfa. He spun them round and round for about a dozen moments, before he lunged forward, bringing them both toward him from opposite directions, aiming for his torso as he did. Both tonfa hit their marks, slamming into his left side and his right side, break most, if not all of his ribs upon impact, and also causing him to scream in pain once more, coughing up a mouthful of blood as well, just barely managing not to lose his cigarette as he did.

Falling face forward onto the deck, the well dressed cook was left helpless. Ghin turned him over, so that he was lying on his back, blood trickling down the corners of his mouth, and kneeled down over him, almost putting his weight on him as he did. Resting his right tonfa on his shoulder, he placed the other tonfa down, using his now free hand to grab ahold of his opponent's throat, squeezing just tight enough to make it hard to breath, but not impossible to. "I have to kill you now." He informed the blonde.

"D-damn b-bastard." He said, before hacking up another mouthful of blood.

Despite what he had just said to Sanji, Ghin made no move to end it. Even as what felt like a strong gust of wind washed over the front fin of the Baratie, it putting out the fire raging on it as it did, he still made no move to end the sous chef's life, only staring down at him, a mix of emotions in his eyes. After another moment, he lowered his head, to where Sanji couldn't see his eyes. That didn't matter though, as the sounds of teardrops hitting the deck still told what the tonfa wielding was doing, he was crying. The fact that the teardrops landed right next to his enemy's head also helped him realized Ghin was crying.

"I...can't. I just...can't do it. I can't kill the man who saved my life." He threw his head back then, raising his voice into a cry, his tone affected by his tears. "I can't Don Krieg, I won't do it!" He stopped then, trying to keep his voice from quivering, before continuing. "I can't kill him! I'm sorry Captain!"

Sanji's eyes widened considerably, as he stared up at the man who had him at his mercy.

"What did you just say!?" Krieg shouted, getting Ghin's eyes on him. He stood on the galleon, at the edge of the railing, his face bloodied up bad, almost every detail covered in blood.

"I...won't do...what you want me to!" Ghin managed to get out, his voice only trembling slightly, the memory of what Sanji had done for him flashing in his mind as he did, his grip on his tonfa slackening, allowing it to fall out of his hand and hit the deck. "He treated me with such respect and decency, and even kindness! That's why...I just can't bring myself to kill him!" He could no longer hide the trembling of his voice at that point. "I've always been loyal to you. Up until now, I've believed in everything that we've done. I respect you and appreciate all you have given me. Trusting me as your chief commander was the honor of my life. Until this moment, I have obeyed every single order you have given me without ever questioning it. I can't live with myself if I kill this man, and I cannot break my oath. Please, I beg you, let me disobey just this one order, please Don Krieg!"

"Why you dirty little sunuva bitch! You think you can defy my orders!?" The golden armor wearing man questioned angrily and incredulously. "You are pathetic Ghin! Morality, sympathy, these are weaknesses I had never expected to see from you!" He stated. "Listen here, if you don't kill that stupid cook, then you will no longer be my chief commander! And you won't only lose your rank either, you'll lose your life as well when I kill you both!"

Ghin stared helplessly at the man he had followed for years loyally and without question, his hopes for a way out crushed into nothing but dust. Feeling shame and anger consume him, he lowered his head, as the tears streaming down his face began to dry. "Forgive me Sanji...but I must kill you. I have to. I'm sorry." He picked his right tonfa back up then, as he prepared to smash in the blonde's face with it.

"I'm sorry too." Sanji responded. "Sorry you have such a pathetic excuse for a captain that is!"

Ghin's eyes widened to the max at those words, before he could say anything though, Sanji spat his lit cigarette in the man's face, almost burning him as he did, causing him to rear back, closing his eyes to prevent them from getting hurt all the while. The bleeding chef then quickly pulled his leg up to where his knee met his chest, then shot it forward, ramming his foot into the man's chest, sending him to the deck hard, cracking it a bit, as he rolled back about a dozen feet.

Sanji forced himself to his feet then, in spite of his body's protests, his smashed ribs screaming in pain. As he came up into an erect position, he grabbed ahold of Ghin's other tonfa, his left one, and brought it along, holding it now that he stood.

Ghin was also on his feet once more. "Are you going to try and use my own weapon against me? That's just foolish Sanji. I know the strengths and weakness of my tonfas better than anyone else."

"You have a point. Besides that, I'm a chef, my hands are sacred, I could never use them in battle. I didn't pick it up for me though, so I never intended to use it." He explained.

"Then why grab it? Hoping to keep it away from me?"

"The opposite actually. Here, catch!" The curly browed man yelled, throwing the heavy tonfa at him as he did.

As Ghin's eyes went to the tonfa coming at him and he made the effort to catch it, Sanji was able to close the distance between them, bringing his right leg up and hooking his foot around his opponent's neck. "Reception!" He cried, as he used his leg to force Ghin face first into the front fin of the Baratie, smashing his face down into it hard, his head cracking the deck a dozen inches in all directions, almost breaking through it. The attack also busted him open, a good deal of blood running down his face from the injury.

Hearing his enemy groan in pain, Sanji raised his right leg into the air, fully extending it, before bringing it down in a strong axe kick, his heel ramming into the back of Ghin's head extremely hard, actually forcing his head to break all the way through the fin, dunking his head into the ocean, a decent deal of water splashing up from it as it happened, landing on the deck.

Pulling his leg back and placing it firmly back on the front fin, he leaned down and pulled Ghin's head out of the water, rolling him over, as he coughed up sea water, his tonfa's having been dropped beside him. After he finished coughing, despite the fact that he was breathing raggedly, the blonde could tell he was unconscious, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, his face soaked in his own blood as well as salt water.

Seeing as his opponent was down for the count, Sanji, even in spite of his injuries, decided to have another cigarette. After he pulled it out, lit it up and took a good drag of it, he exhaled, as he said to himself. "I guess that's that."

**Sanji vs Ghin**

**Winner: Sanji**

* * *

Five more chefs had been knocked out, leaving only Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku, Patty and Carne. While the Krieg Pirates still had twenty five men left, making the battle five to one at that point.

"You just had to take the Mackerel Head out for a joy ride didn't you Patty!? Because if it wasn't in need of repairs, we could have used it to win this battle by now!" Carne yelled at his hairy friend.

"Hey! It isn't my fault! How was I supposed to know we'd be attacked by the Krieg Pirates!?" Patty shouted back.

"Cut it out you two, now isn't the time! In case you guys hand't noticed, unlike the last group, these guys have guns, and that's going to make things a lot harder on us!" Usopp told them.

"We can't block bullets like Big Bro Zoro! We aren't that good yet!" Johnny and Yosaku cried together frantically, worried for their safety.

That's when something came to the long nosed sniper. "Patty, that shrimp cannon of yours, is it still in working condition? Where is it?"

"I left it in the restaurant, and yeah it'll still work. I don't have any ammo for it though." The hairy cook informed him.

"I'll handle the ammo, just go get the thing!" Usopp said hastily.

Patty rushed off to do just that, Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku and Carne all coming along with him until they came to the railing, where they hopped over and crouched down, to avoid the bullets as the Krieg Pirates began firing on them, Patty heading inside as they did. A minute later, and he was crouching down with them. "Here!"

Usopp took it from the larger man and went to work. He took the satchel like bag he carried with him off, opening it up, revealing where he kept his ammo at. He grabbed two handfuls then, one half filled with lead stars and flame stars, the other one filled with exploding stars. He shoved these handfuls into the mouth of the shrimp cannon, before proceeding to rig it a little, so it would fire.

"Hurry Big Bro Usopp! They're getting closer!"

"Done!" Usopp announced to the other four, before heaving it onto his shoulder, the thing a little heavy for him, and stood up, so as to get a clear shot. Once he had it, he fired, a flash of light emanating from the mouth just as before, the kickback of the thing knocking him to the ground, as well as keeping him from feeling the pain as a bullet managed to nick his right arm.

The jumbled blast of stars hit the remaining Krieg Pirates head on, consuming them in an explosion of flames and lead stars, as well as a literal large explosion, from all the exploding stars. The explosion had badly damaged a large part of the front fin, not to mention had lit the fin on fire, that being the second time it was on fire today. This didn't matter though, as while all of the twenty five men had survived, they were running around in a frenzy, screaming in pain. Even if they did put themselves out, they'd probably be too hurt to keep fighting.

Then, with a very loud creak and a snap, the damaged part of the fin gave way, breaking off from the rest of the Baratie and falling into the ocean, preventing the fire from spreading to the rest of the floating establishment, putting out the pirates, and ending the battle between Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku and the cooks of the Baratie and the Krieg Pirates.

"Yeah, we did it! We won!" Carne shouted.

"We beat those Krieg Pirates down into the ground!" Patty agreed.

"Way to go Big Bro Usopp!" Johnny and Yosaku cried together.

"I did it?" He questioned, standing as he did, rubbing his right shoulder which hurt from the kickback of the weapon all the while. "I did it!" He exclaimed excitedly, a smile crossing his face as he did. "We did it! We won!" He declared.

"We beat the Krieg Pirates! We beat the Krieg Pirates! We beat the Krieg Pirates!" Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku, Patty and Carne all began to chant together, as they did a little group dance in victory.

* * *

"How many times are you gonna keep saying that!? You aren't the world's strongest man, not even close!" Luffy yelled at the man, his anger clear. With everything that had happened with Nami...he had a very short fuse as of right now. It was only a matter of time before something set him off.

"Shut you mouth brat, you don't know anything!" Krieg shouted at him.

"I know that I'm stronger than you." Luffy bit, not even bothering to have to raise his voice to do so.

"You? Stronger than me? That's a laugh! You're nothing but a scrawny runt! A rookie upstart! A stupid kid! And for making the stupid mistake of insulting and attacking me, you will die!" The mantles on his armor flipped up then, revealing ten gun barrels, the man pulling out two pistols at the same time, and proceeding to pump his opponent with led, firing them all at once.

He didn't bother to stop firing until his ammo ran dry, the guns going off continuously for half a minute. As his ammo was now used up, the smoke that accumulated from firing all those guns that was blocking his view dissipated, allowing him to see the brat he was sure he had turned to swiss cheese. Only, he was completely intact and completely lacked any holes in him, rather, most of his body was stretching outward behind him, the bullets not having ripped through his flesh like they were supposed to.

"Here, have these back!" Luffy said, before allowing his skin to snap back into place, sending the more than three hundred bullets that he had unloaded on him soaring back.

"What the!?" He questioned, as he brought his arms up to guard his face, so as to make sure he didn't get killed by one of his own bullets. It was definitely loud, as most of the bullets hit his armor, making clang after clang, becoming an incessant clanging that rose in volume. Thanks to the fact that all the weapons had been fired above the waist though, only one or two bullets actually ended up hitting Krieg, and they were only grazes on his legs, not even worth mentioning.

"Bullets won't work on me, I'm a rubber man!" Luffy proclaimed.

Lowering his arms, he growled. "Damn devil fruit users and their trickery! Your powers are nothing more than the illusion of strength, so don't you dare get cocky punk!"

Luffy's scowl from before returned at that. "You're even stupider than you look!"

"What was that!?" He squawked at the teenager.

"You heard me! You really think I'd still be alive if all I had was my devil fruit ability!? How could I become the King of the Pirates if I didn't have any strength of my own!? I don't need my devil fruit to beat anyone, especially someone like you!"

"Why you goddamn brat!" Krieg shouted, as his mantles closed and he pulled a weapon out. "I'll show you what happens when you disrespect me!" The weapon he had pulled out was a morning star, a giant spiked ball with a chain attached to it, which he began to spin, before tossing it out toward the straw hat pirate.

As it came down to him, Luffy met it head on with both hands, using his strength to shove it back at the golden armor wearing man. He had pushed too hard though, as while it did go back towards Krieg, it went a bit too high and ended up smacking into the mast, cracking it, breaking through parts of it with it's spikes, and causing it to tilt even further, the thing looking ready to come down at any moment.

Krieg roughly yanked it out of the mast, causing the wood to groan, before spinning it and sending it towards his rubber opponent once more. The sixteen year old didn't bother trying to dodge, nor did he look like he was preparing for anything in particular this time, he just stood there, waiting for the thing to hit him. Just before it did though, he reached up and jumped up, pushing himself off the ball as he did, also pushing the spiked ball down into the deck of the galleon, breaking partway through the deck as it did.

The teenage pirate came down a moment later, landing on the ball without hurting himself, pushing it just a bit further down into the wood of the deck, cracking the deck a little more. And as Krieg attempted to try and pull the ball back with the chain, the younger pirate grabbed it from his end and yanked it right out of the older man's hands, taking it away from him.

Krieg growled in annoyance, but didn't try and reclaim the morning star. Instead he pulled out a tiny black ball...and flicked it at his enemy. When it hit, there was a decent sized explosion, engulfing the rubber pirate in smoke. When said smoke cleared, he was fine, though the deck had a hole in it now.

The gray haired man didn't even bother to get annoyed or aggravated by this, simply pulling out a handful of those tiny bombs, and hurling them at the raven haired man. Seeing as there were a lot more this time, he quickly scrambled out of the way, as whether all the explosions would hurt him or not didn't matter, as that many would deal a lot of damage to the galleon they were on, and he couldn't afford to fall into the ocean.

Luffy just barely managed to get out of the blast radius, as they all went off, tearing up the deck and what was immediately below the deck on the galleon. A lot more smoke was left over this time, it taking a decent bit longer for it all to fade away. This made it where Krieg couldn't see his opponent, however, he could still hear him, the younger man running around. So that he could take him by surprise and attack him the moment he could see him, he listened intently to his footsteps, the creaking of the damaged galleon making this possible for him, as he removed his left shoulder plate and wielded it like a gun, loading it with a large belt of ammunition, said ammunition consisting of green and yellow colored stakes.

Once the smoke cleared, a large gaping hole could be seen in the deck of the galleon, and Krieg began to fire on Luffy, the stakes shooting out from his shoulder plate gun as fast as a machine gun. As they came shooting at him, the straw hat pirate began moving faster, so as to avoid being hit. While he increased his speed to keep from being hit with one of the stakes though, the older pirate just readjusted his aim and started firing where he was going to be at instead of where he was at that moment, making it pointless to have done so.

To continue to keep from being impaled on one of the stakes bigger than his wrist, the teen began to dodge side to side, jump forward jump back, roll in whatever direction necessary and hide behind anything that he could, which there wasn't much to use as cover but he still found something to duck behind once or twice anyway, all the while he was closing the distance between himself and Krieg. "Keep running brat! Run from my might!"

By the time he had less than ten feet of distance to cover, he hadn't been hit once by the stakes, the captain of the Krieg pirates out of ammo at that point. And as that was the case, Luffy was unimpeded, as he rushed toward him, his right fist cocked back, ready to deliver a strong punch to his face. So as to keep himself from being hit again, seeing as it had happened only once so far and had hurt more than anything else he had ever felt in his life, Krieg placed his shoulder plate back, before reaching back and pulling his cape, wrapping it around himself, spikes bursting out of it suddenly. "Just try and hit me now punk!" He taunted, holding his spiked cape shield tight around him.

Undeterred, Luffy got in close and rammed his right fist into the side of Krieg's face, impaling his hand on one of the spikes of his cape as he did, the force behind the blow not softened by the cape shield at all, the attack forcing the Don's head down onto the deck, cracking it and nearly making the part of it he was on give way. "Would you shut your face already!?" He was knocked nearly unconscious from the blow, his eyes half rolled back into his head, which is why no cry of pain was heard from him. The blow had cracked his jaw and skull, as well as caused a nasty bruise to begin forming on the left side of his face, he was literally only a punch away from being down for the count.

Before Luffy could deliver this punch though, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the Baratie catch fire. Pulling his fist back, relaxing his hand as he did, blood now flowing and dripping from his right hand as well as his left, he turned to look toward the floating restaurant. "What the...what happened!?" He questioned, no one able to give him an answer since he was up her alone, besides the nearly unconscious Krieg that is. "If that fire isn't put out soon, Pops Zeff's restaurant'll be burned down for sure!" He exclaimed worriedly.

He had to go help, but as he looked back to see Krieg struggling to get off the deck and to his feet, he knew he had to put him down for the count first. As he thought that, he looked toward the Baratie once more, to see Zeff at where the front fin met the actual deck of his ship, his arms crossed, looking calm, cool and composed. Someone had this under control, the look on the old blonde man's face made that clear. That's when he lifted his right leg, the one with the false leg, the peg leg, brought it back and kicked forward with it, the gust of wind following behind it snuffing out the raging fire. Seeing this caused Luffy's eyes to widen a good deal. "Did...did Pops Zeff just use Tempest Kick?" He wondered to himself, though knowing he had.

The sound of Krieg finally getting to his feet caught Luffy's attention, so he turned to face him, only to see him detach his cape and stumble forward and catch himself at the railing, almost falling over it as he did. That's when the rubber man realized he was looking at something, following his line of sight, his eyes found Ghin crouching over Sanji, crying.

He proceeded to apologize to Krieg and beg him to let him disobey just this once and not kill Sanji, reminding him that he had always been loyal to a fault to try and convince him. However...

"Why you dirty little sunuva bitch! You think you can defy my orders!?" The golden armor wearing man questioned angrily and incredulously. "You are pathetic Ghin! Morality, sympathy, these are weaknesses I had never expected to see from you!" He stated. "Listen here, if you don't kill that stupid cook, then you will no longer be my chief commander! And you won't only lose your rank either, you'll lose your life as well when I kill you both!"

Ghin lowered his head then, making it where he couldn't see as Krieg removed his shoulder plate once more, this time the other one though, preparing to use it as a gun as he did. "It doesn't matter, I'll just kill you both now anyways. Anyone who lowers themselves and betrays my crew will almost certainly do it again, and more importantly, I will not allow anyone disobey me to live!" He tried to shout, but was only able to harshly whisper, gargling on and coughing up a bit of blood as he did so. "Now, time for the MH5! Poison gas bomb...fire!"

"No you don't!" Luffy had reached him just as he fired the weapon, kicking his arm, throwing it off mark, causing the gas bomb to go flying out over the ocean, falling into the water and unleashing the gas shortly afterward.

Snarling in anger, he tried to bash Luffy with his shoulder plate, failing to do so as he ducked under him. He kicked out then, the straw hat teen backing away to not get hit.

Using that as his chance, he tried to use another weapon, taking off the other glove he still had on, revealing his other diamond embedded gauntlet, along with a wrist mounted flamethrower. "Taste fire brat!" This he was able to shout, the blood no longer blocking his airway.

Flames spat out of the small thing, Luffy narrowly avoiding them, lunging away to keep from getting burned up. The golden armor wearing man tried to follow after, but found that was a big mistake, as Luffy ducked and weaved, causing him to set his own mast on fire, before the rubber teen got in close and broke the flame spitter in half, keeping it from being used against him again.

Krieg let out a cry of rage then, before actually physically shoving the devil fruit user back, saying as he did so. "Fine, have it your way. You want to challenge me so bad? Then I'll use my greatest weapon!" He removed both of his shoulder plates then, before putting them together, a wooden shaft extending from the bottom of the two as they were put together, and a spear head extending from the top. "My mighty Battle Spear!"

Pivoting forward with surprising agility, he brought it down on Luffy, the explosion as it made contact with him quite large and quite sudden. Only, when the smoke from the explosion cleared, he wasn't there, the large man had just blown another hole in the deck of his ship. "Where are you!?"

"Right here." He said from behind him. "That thing exploded when it hit the floor, that's kind of cool. A bomb spear, yeah, kind of cool."

"Shut up and die damn you!" He screamed at him, bringing his battle spear up and down once more, causing another explosion.

Luffy had dodged once more, and Krieg realized this, so quickly rush after him, tearing across the deck of his galleon, repeatedly slamming his battle spear down again and again to try and kill that rubber pest. All he really managed to end up doing after twenty slams of the thing, was to mess his flag ship up even worse.

His rage and aggravation were clear, as he cried, "Scared of me you damn brat!? You should be! Because I am Don Krieg, the strongest man in the world! And when I get ahold of you, I'll tear you to pieces!"

"You're annoying. Don't you ever shut up?" The sixteen year old inquired, a scowl on his face.

Giving a cry of rage once more, he turned and brought his battle spear down on his enemy. Only this time, instead of dodging, Luffy met it head on, his right fist colliding with the spearhead as the explosion consumed him and Krieg, which covered the sound of the spearhead breaking in half.

The smoke soon cleared, and as it did, Krieg's eyes bulged as he saw his battle spear. "Wha-what did you do to my mighty Battle Spear!?"

"Isn't it obvious? I punched it in the head." Luffy stated, his tone the one you would use if you were talking to someone who had asked a stupid question. He looked the weapon up and down then, before remarking, "Looks like all you've got now is a bomb on a stick. Pretty lame."

Krieg physically began to shake then, his rage consuming every thought he had, his mind solely focused on one thing, killing the straw hat pirate.

That's when said straw hat teen suddenly spoke again, his voice accusing. "Look, are you going to just keep playing around with those toys of yours? Or are we actually going to fight?"

Krieg screamed at the top of his lungs then, in rage, aggravation, annoyance and slipping sanity. "No one does this to me! No one can do this to me! It's impossible! I am the great Don Krieg, the strongest man in the world! I have impenetrable armor! I have the greatest weapons in the world! I am the best! I am the best! I AM THE BEST!"

He was losing it, his eyes were bloodshot all to hell, he was physically shaking and looked ready to explode with all the rage running through him. "I WON'T LOSE TO A BRAT LIKE YOU, I WON'T! I AM THE GREAT DON KRIEG! NO ONE CAN BEAT ME!"

He pivoted forward then, cocking his right fist back as he did, before shooting it forward with everything that he had. "NOW I WILL SHOW YOU WHY I AM MIGHTY, AND YOU ARE NOT!"

"Try it!" Luffy cried in return, as he met Krieg's right fist with his own, the clash of strength not even lasting more than a few moments, as the larger man's gauntlet violently cracked, the bones in his arm following suit, causing him to stumble back, his arm going limp as he did.

Luffy didn't let up however, pivoting forward himself, bringing his arms back, stretching them a bit and shooting them forward, palms open, slamming them into the man's armor clad abdomen. "Gum Gum Bazooka!" The double open palmed blow broke the armor into pieces, shattering and falling away from his body, the man stumbling and almost falling from it happening.

"You talk about how great you are, claiming to have the greatest weapons in the world, the best armor, that it's impenetrable, that you're the strongest, but it's all just that, talk! When it comes to the world, it's not me that amounts to nothing, it's you!" Taking a quick step forward then, Luffy rammed his right fist into Krieg's face, sending him down to the deck from the force of the blow, knocking him unconscious and causing the entire galleon to groan, before the entire deck caved in on itself, taking Luffy and Krieg with it.

Seeing as he was unconscious, Krieg had no way to catch himself and fell down into his own ship, accumulating a few more injuries as he did. Luffy on the other hand, stretched his arms up and grabbed onto the railing of the boat at the last second, and shot himself back up. "Gum Gum Rocket!"

Launching himself into the air, he was a good thirty feet high, before throwing his arms down to the Baratie, grabbing onto the railing between the deck and the front fin and snapping himself towards it, coming down to where his friends were.

**Luffy vs Don Krieg**

**Winner: Luffy**

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

If you couldn't tell, though I'm sure you could, Sanji is also a decent bit stronger than he was in Cannon. Not exactly on par with Luffy's or Zoro's jump in strength, but enough to where he'll have less difficulty with enemies that don't have some kind of strength boost compared to their Cannon timeline counterparts.

Also, if you guys are wondering, no, Krieg and his men did not run into Mihawk this time. They just got really unlucky. Okay, first they had difficulty entering the Grand Line, reverse mountain giving them some trouble. Then they ended up running into Laboon, hence the broken figure head. Then of course they dealt with the crazy way weather works in the Grand Line. And finally, very unfortunately for them, they ran into Baroque Works, which was where almost half the damage they sustained came from.


	22. Sanji's Debt Repaid

deant33: Well, as I'm sure everyone can tell by now, Ghin won't be joining the crew. However, there's a reason why I had it where he never inhaled the poison of the MH5. So I do plan on bringing him back...eventually.

Johnny Spectre: That's what you sense huh? I can neither confirm nor deny whether that will happen, what I can say is that your pretty good at sensing stuff. As you're almost right. Mwahahaha!

F-ckthesystem125: No, Zoro has not met Mihawk yet. Whether in a chapter or sometime along the course of his life not shown. He will meet him soon enough though, so don't worry.

midnightscar17: Thank you. As for how Zoro's going to need new swords, well, I'm in the middle of working that out. Also, on the subject of Gin and Ghin, well, like I said, I go by the English version, in which he is known as Ghin. At least in the anime anyways. So you're right, but I like to do things more in line with the English version, so I spelled it with the h.

Tonlor: I think Krieg was a decent enough villain for the East Blue, and what made him kind of stick out is that unlike most of the other enemies Luffy fights, most of whom are barely hanging onto their sanity by the time the final blow is dealt, Krieg actually snaps and goes crazy for a minute, even if it is after the battle. I liked that, which is why I made it happen sooner, since he was getting his ass kicked so much harder this time around. Believe you me, I don't think anyone is more excited about the Arlong Arc than I am, woohoo! As for Gin and Ghin, refer to my response above to midnightscar17 to see why I went with the h. Finally, I can promise you this, there will definitely be some big LuNa moments after Arlong is taken care of and in the future of the story after that.

Also Tonlor, have you any guesses as to who I might be adding to the crew? I gave you those two hints and I was wondering if you had thought of two people who met those parameters I set that you want to join the crew. If you guess right, I'll even tell you that you did, letting you know who'll be joining. I will tell you over PM though, that way no one else finds out. Same goes for if you get it wrong though. Again, I don't want anyone else knowing who'll be joining. Also, one guess each. Don't want you guessing a bunch of people and one of them by chance being right.

Aarik Wrath: Well, as far as I've seen, iron is easier to cut than steel, at least in One Piece that is. And Pearl's plates are made of iron, so...yeah. That was the only other good fight he had besides Mihawk? I'm not sure what you mean by that. Yes it will. And yes, what he said about them was true. And finally, you are correct, easy, shallow dreams aren't worth much.

Not much happens here, just wrapping the Baratie arc up. Hope you guys like it regardless though. Also, right after my longest chapter yet, here's my shortest chapter yet.

Onto the chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Everyone who was still conscious had their attention pulled to the galleon, as it's entire deck caved in, the half burned down mast coming along with it into the depths of the ship, said mast breaking through part of the bottom of the sea vessel, causing it to begin taking on water. All eyes then shifted to Luffy as he rocketed into the sky, those few consisting of Zoro, Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku, Patty, Carne, Sanji and Zeff. They watched as he stretched his arms out, grabbed onto the railing of the Baratie and came racing toward them, snapping towards his hands.

He hit the deck with his feet, landing up right, as he skid to a stop, just barely managing not to slam face first into the wall. Now down with the others, three calls were heard, Zoro and Usopp both calling his name, as they approached him, and a unified call of his name from Johnny and Yosaku, as they too came running over to him.

"Zoro, Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku, you guys alright?" He asked them, searching for injuries as he did.

"No problems Captain, everything's been handled on our end." Zoro told him.

"Yeah, we blew those Krieg Pirates away!" Usopp said, a large smile across his face as he did.

"There isn't even a single Krieg Pirate left standing!" Yosaku and Johnny said together. And true to their words, not a single person who called themselves a pirate besides Luffy, Zoro and Usopp were standing.

"That's good." Luffy nodded his head as he said this, sparing the blood on Usopp's arm a prolonged second glance, before the long nosed teen assured him it was fine.

"What about yo-" Usopp was cut off mid sentence, as the two cooks, plus a third one Zeff had sent after them, finally came around to the front of the Baratie in the boat they were supposed have gotten way earlier. "Sorry we're so late! We couldn't find the damn thing! And then, we nearly got our heads taken off when a marine ship came sailing past us, it's anchor not even fully pulled up yet! And then some Krieg Pirates tried to ambush us near the back fin, but we showed them!" His story was pretty believable, seeing as the marine vessel that used to be here was gone, and the fact that they were covered in bruises and were bleeding a decent amount also added credibility.

Not that Luffy cared at the moment, as he ran over to them, Zoro, Usopp, Yosaku and Johnny in tow. The chefs got out of the boat and went over to the others, as the bounty hunter duo, Zoro and Usopp all climbed into the boat. When they saw Luffy fail to do the same, they all looked to him with questioning gazes.

The straw hat wearing man was looking back at Sanji, who was squabbling with Zeff at the moment, watching them before turning his head back to meet his friends eyes. "Go on without me."

"H-huh!? What!?" Usopp asked disbelievingly.

"Big Bro Luffy!?" Johnny and Yosaku questioned.

"What's wrong?" Zoro inquired, his eyes narrowing just a tad.

Luffy locked eyes with his first mate then, the two seeming to exchange a silent conversation. "Alright then, understood Captain." The swordsman sat down then, no longer objecting to his younger friend, his brother, not getting on with them.

"Wait, what!? What just happened!? He didn't even say anything Zoro!" Usopp near shouted, complaining to his green haired crewmate.

"Big Bros...?"

Luffy then explained to them what Zoro had understood immediately. "I'll be following after you guys soon. I just have to try one last time to get Sanji to join our crew. If he won't come, or it drags on too long...then I have no choice, I have to leave him behind, even if it is only for a little while. We have to catch up to Nami, nothing is more important than that right now."

"You mean-" Usopp began, only to be cut off once more. "Yeah, I'm staying behind for now."

"But-" Luffy shook his head at that. "No buts, just go." He ordered.

"I-I...I understand." Usopp finally conceded, knowing how serious this was.

"Good. Thank you Usopp." He gave him a small smile then. "Now go, we can't afford to waste any more time than we already have."

The sniper nodded in understanding, picking up a paddle, getting ready to row out with Johnny's and Yosaku's help when, suddenly, the marksman remembered something. "Wait Luffy, there's no way we can catch up to her at this point, so we can't follow her. How are we supposed to find her?"

Luffy's eyes narrowed then, as he looked away from them and out towards the direction Nami had set sail in. He simply gazed in that direction for a few moments, before he finally spoke. "Cocoyashi."

"What was that?" Usopp questioned.

"Cocoyashi Village, that's where she's heading." Luffy clarified.

"Oh, we know where that is! That's located on the Conomi Islands!" Johnny and Yosaku stated a little excitedly.

"But why would she go there?" Usopp inquired.

"Because that's where the witch lives." Zoro answered. "No more questions, Luffy gave us an order, now let's follow it."

"R-right." Usopp agreed, nodding his head as he did. "Johnny, Yosaku, since you guys know the way, mind paddling?"

"Not at all Big Bro!" They replied, before taking up the paddles and getting to work.

As they went on their way, Luffy turned and made his way toward Sanji

* * *

Sanji and Zeff stood back as Zoro, Usopp, Yosaku and Johnny spoke with the rubber teen, Patty and Carne gathering up their fellow cooks to take them inside, while the two blonde men spoke to each other. "He beat him." The younger blonde stated evenly.

"Were you expecting any different?" Zeff asked.

"Honestly? No." Sanji answered.

"That's good. Then you see it too?"

"See what Old Man?"

"The type if man he is. When he's fighting, he isn't afraid of anything, even death. He'll fight until his dying breath, never willing to give up under any circumstances. No matter how many weapons Krieg had, even if they had been ones of mass destruction, there was no way he could have ever defeated Luffy. That young man's heart is something quite remarkable, and something people like Krieg will never have, let alone be able to grasp the concept of. He's truly something special."

"Can't argue with that." Sanji admitted.

"Then why won't you just join him already? He invited you into his crew almost three years ago, take him up on that offer and go out and see the world. Become a pirate, follow your dreams, find the All Blue."

Sanji sighed at that. "You know I want to, but I just can't, no matter how tempting it might be."

"And why not? There's nothing holding you back, nothing's keeping you here."

"You know exactly why Geezer."

"I've already told you a million times, you don't owe me anything brat. So just hurry up and leave already, I don't want you here anyway."

"Why you shitty-" The bleeding chef began, moving toward his mentor as he did, but in doing so accidentally aggravated his injuries, causing him to stumble, as he half yelped in pain. Coming to a stop, he began to breathe a little hard, "That hurts a lot more than it did earlier." He stated the obvious to himself.

"That's because the adrenaline has worn off, stupid kid."

"How many times do I have to tell you!? I'm not a kid anymore damn you!"

"Yeah well, you'll always be that snot nosed brat I met back in the North Blue to me."

"Argh! You have got to be the most frustrating old man in th-" Sanji didn't get to finish his sentence, as the sound of Luffy's voice went over his. "Hey, are you stupid or something!?"

"What did you just say!?" The blonde asked angrily, turning to face the raven haired pirate as he did.

"You heard me! I heard what you said to Ghin when you were fighting him! I know you owe Pops Zeff, but to die for some dumb old restaurant!? You've gotta be an idiot!" The dark haired teenager yelled right back.

"And what do you know huh!? What do you know of my debt to this place Luffy!? That damn shitty Geezer saved me! He gave up his leg so that I could live! He starved himself for almost two months so that I could survive! He could no longer be a pirate because of me! He gave up his dream! He gave up everything for me! This restaurant is all he has left! How can I not be willing to to die to make sure he keeps it!?" He screamed in his younger friend's face, having grabbed him by the front of his vest as he did.

Luffy forced the older teen's hands away from his vest, before grabbing him by his collar, and pulling him closer, so that he could shout in his face for a change. "Because it's not about death! You dying won't repay the debt you owe to Pops Zeff! To be his little worker for the rest of your life, to sacrifice yourself for some hunk of wood in the middle of the ocean, is that what you honestly think he expects of you!? That isn't why he put his life on the line for you! He saved you so that you would live, and yet you want to die!? By saying crap like that you spit in the face of his sacrifice! You think wanting to die makes you honorable!? Well it doesn't, it just makes you weak!"

"Why you shitty rubber bastard! You don't what it's like, you have no room to talk!" The bleeding cook shot back.

"I don't know!? You have no idea what I know and don't know Sanji! You don't know anything! And you wanna know why!? Because you've locked yourself away here in this restaurant! You hide away from the world, fearful that your ambitions and dreams will be stomped into dust like you think Zeff's were if you dare to leave your hiding place!"

Sanji's eyes widened to the max at that, revealing that the straw hat pirate was at least partially right. The blonde was stunned into silence for a few moments, before he manged to find his voice again. "T-th...tha-that's not true, that's not true at all! How dare you act like I'm doing this for myself! How dare you mock the old man's sacrifice! I don't care about that crap! No matter what you say, you won't get me to change my mind! Because...I WON'T LEAVE HERE UNTIL MY DEBT HAS BEEN REPAID!" He cried near the top of his lungs.

"Damn it, why don't you understand!? Zeff chose your life over his dream, he deemed your life worth more than his career as a pirate and his dream combined! He made his choice! And now it's time for you to make yours! He placed his faith in you, don't toss it aside like it's nothing by staying here for the rest of your life! As long as you're here...you mock him, you mock Pops Zeff! AS LONG AS YOU STAY HERE, WASTING AWAY YOUR LIFE, ALL YOU'RE DOING IS MOCKING ZEFF'S SACRIFICE YOURSELF! WHEN WILL YOU GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD!?" Luffy threw his older friend to the ground then, the swirly browed cook hitting the deck ass first. "But screw it...I don't have the time to waste on this anymore. I'll be back eventually to see if you've changed your mind or not, but for now, I've got somewhere I need to be."

Sanji's eyes remained wide, as he watched his younger friend turn and begin walking away, looking like he was going to ask Zeff for another boat. With each step he took, his words echoed in his head, repeated themselves over and over and over again. This lasted for...well, the blonde wasn't sure how long his state of stillness and thought lasted, what he did know is that it eventually came to an end. And when it did, his eyes returned to normal and a sigh forced it's way out of his body, despite the pain in his abdomen from all the broken ribs. "Fine Luffy, you win, I'll join your crew."

Luffy stopped then, taking time to look back, a half smirk on his face as he did. "Good. Saves me the trouble of coming back and kicking your ass until you agreed to do so anyway."

"Is that so?" The well dressed chef asked, quirking his visible brow as he did, just a bit of mirth in his voice.

"Yeah, it is." The sixteen year old replied.

The straw hat pirate then turned to look at Zeff, who had backed up to the doorway of the Baratie as they had been arguing. "Pops Zeff, I'm gonna need another boat."

He let a large grin cross his face at that. Before he could say anything though, a certain pink haired marine stumbled out onto the deck of the Baratie, unintentionally bumping into Zeff as he did. "Where are they, where are the Krieg Pirates? Where is Don Krieg?"

Luffy, not knowing who this guy was, simply said, "Oh, that guy? He's over on that boat. I just got through kicking his ass a little bit ago."

Fullbody looked the teen up and down at that. "A no name scrawny brat like you beat the infamous Foul Play Krieg? Yeah, like I believe that."

The straw hat teen frowned at that.

Taking another look around, seeing the Krieg Pirates all defeated, he realized there might be some truth to what the black haired teen had said. "Did those cooks do all this? I really need to get out of here!"

That's when he finally realized his ship was gone. "M-my ship, where did it go!? Did it get sunk in the battle!?"

"Oh, that ship. Shortly after the date of yours climbed aboard it, that ship took off, so as to get out of the way, so they didn't get destroyed by the Krieg Pirates." Zeff explained.

"W-what!? You're telling me Moodie and my men just left me here!? Th-that can't be!" He said frantically.

"It is. They bailed on you punk." Zeff stated harshly.

"This...this, this is all your fault!" He shouted, pointing towards Sanji as he did.

"Excuse me?" The smoking blonde questioned.

"If you had just been a courteous waiter and did your job, then I wouldn't be stuck here right now!"

"Yeah, right, like I want you here." Sanji replied, rolling his eyes as he did.

"I will make you pay for this! No one does this to Marine Lieutenant Ironfist Fullbody! No one! You hear me!?"

"You're annoying." Luffy stated simply, before suddenly bringing his right fist down on top of Fullbody's head, the punch knocking him to the deck, as well as knocking him unconscious once more.

All three of the men looked down at the pink haired marine, before looking back up at each other, the youngest of them asking, "So, what about that boat?"

Zeff chuckled at that. "Sure thing kid."

* * *

By the time they had another boat out and ready to go, Ghin regained consciousness, climbing to his feet, stumbling as he did, wiping away all the blood covering his face as his eyes searched about for his crew. He could account for most of them with a single once over, but a few were missing, one in particular striking him, as he was the most important of the crew. "Don...where is he, where is Don Krieg!?" He asked to himself and to anyone who would answer it honestly.

Luffy and Sanji, both of whom were a few feet behind him, caught his attention, as they both spoke.

"He's out there." Sanji answered, pointing out to the drifting away galleon, which was partially submerged in the water, slowly sinking. "In that boat of his."

"I kicked his ass. In spite of all you said he was, it didn't take much to take him down." Luffy stated bluntly, no maliciousness in his words, only honesty.

Ghin whirled to face them at that, his eyes as wide as wide could be. "Don Krieg was defeated...? Impossible!"

Luffy shook his head at that. "No, you let him fool you into believing he was far more powerful than he was. He used all his toys against me, but they were no match for real strength. In the end, he was nothing more than an overconfident weakling with weapons. You could defeat him yourself if you really wanted to, judging by the way you worked over Sanji anyways. He was the wrong man for you to follow, as just like his power, his honor is nonexistent. He planned to kill you even after he told you that you had one last chance with so-"

"I know." Ghin admitted to the two, cutting the rubber teen off. "I knew he would kill me for disobeying his orders and questioning him, even if I complied in the end. I was waiting for it, because I deserved it. In his place I would have done the same." He lowered his head in shame at that.

"You're just as big an idiot as Sanji is, you know that?" Luffy asked rhetorically, a frown on his face as he did.

"What was that shithead!?" Sanji asked his dark haired captain angrily.

As Ghin's head shot back up, Luffy ignored his blonde friend, as he further explained what he was talking about. "You showed that guy undying loyalty, following his every order without question. You gave him all of your respect and admiration, and never asked for anything in return. What does he do to pay you back? He tries to kill you. I bet you guys never even considered becoming friends the whole time you sailed together, or at least he didn't. What kind of captain doesn't care for his crew? He has no honor, no morals, no real strength and doesn't care about anyone but himself, how could you ever come to respect and admire someone like him Ghin? Ask yourself that, because I can't come up with an answer."

Sanji scoffed at that, "That's because you don't ever think."

Ghin could only stare at the younger man, completely dumbfounded by his words, his thoughts racing at a million miles an hour, the severity of the mental and emotional blow dealt to him bringing him to his knees, as he realized what the rubber man was talking about.

"Come on Sanji, we've gotta get ready to catch up with Zoro and the others." Luffy told his friend, turning and walking back inside the Baratie, Sanji following after, leaving Ghin to his whirling thoughts.

The two came out a few minutes later, dressed a fresh set of clothes, both wearing the same outfit, just clean and undamaged versions of them, plus the bandages under Sanji's and the bandages wrapped around both of Luffy's hands. They were also carrying a big bag of food, so they had something to eat as they made their way to their destination.

As the two got to the boat, put the bag in and prepared to get in themselves, Ghin got to one foot, before getting to the other and proceeding to stand erect, shouting as he did, "To hell with Don Krieg!", catching both of their attention as he did.

The two couldn't know that he had known what had happened all along, where Krieg was and how he had been beat, as he had seen the end of his defeat with his own eyes, though they were hazy when it happened, as he was fading in and out of consciousness. Which is why he had thought it not real, only a delusion. "You're right Luffy. My devotion to him was just an escape from forging my own destiny. Once your heart is set and you pursue all your dreams with every last fiber of what you are, you will never feel lost or hopeless or afraid again. You've taught me that." He managed to form a grin after he said this, showing the rubber pirate he truly meant what he said.

Luffy grinned right back at him. "Good!" He chuckled a bit after saying this.

"Sanji, Luffy, thank you for everything." He bowed his head in gratitude at that.

"No problem!" Luffy responded with a laugh.

"Hmph. What he said." Sanji, said, gesturing to his captain as he did.

"I know you're about to leave, so I've only got one last thing to say to you two."

Both of them showed they were listening, so that he would go on.

"I'll see you two on the Grand Line." Ghin stated, his grin widening a bit.

Luffy's grin turned into a smile, as Sanji grinned as well, both pleased by the former Krieg Pirate's words. "Yeah, you bet!" Luffy replied, agreeing with him to see each other again on the Grand Line.

That's when Zeff, Patty, Carne and all the other chefs came out onto what was left of the front fin of the Baratie. They kept a good ten feet of distance from Luffy and Sanji though.

Ghin could tell this was going to be something emotional, so as to keep it a private matter, he headed inside the Baratie, where he would wait until Zeff returned. From there he would negotiate a deal with him, so he could have a boat that he and the rest of the Krieg Pirates could use to leave.

"Sanji...take care of yourself, okay?" Zeff said suddenly.

Sanji, who had been facing the other way, prepared to get on the boat, froze then, his eyes widening. Tears began to well up in his eyes, as bit his tongue to keep from sobbing, though to no avail, as the tears began to stream down his face. Taking his teeth off his tongue, the thing almost bleeding because of how hard he had bit, he whirled to face all the other cooks. "CHEF ZEFF!" He cried, getting the old man's attention.

He got on his hands and knees and touched his head to the floor, tears still running down his face, as he spoke, "Thanks you geezer, I'll never forget your kindness! I owe my life to you old man, so thank you!" After having said what he needed to say, Sanji could no longer keep his sobs at bay as he cried.

All the other cooks began to tear up then, even Patty and Carne, but Zeff remained stone faced. Not for long though, as even he couldn't help, as tears welled up in his eyes and began to fall soon after.

"I'm gonna miss you so much!" Patty shouted through tears.

"I'm gonna miss you too!" Carne echoed his best friend's sentiment.

Sanji raised his head then, to look at all his fellow chefs in gratitude. They had been the closest thing to a family that he had ever had, and he would miss the dearly. Knowing that setting out was what he wanted more than anything kept him from saying he would stay, but seeing that they would all miss him just as much he would them made him smile in spite of the fact that he was still crying.

"You wusses, real men should depart without a word, let alone tears." Zeff told them all, and yet, as he did, he had to wipe away his very own tears.

Getting to his feet then, Sanji turned and got onto the boat they had been given, this one actually having a small cabin it it with a kitchen unlike the boat that had been given to Zoro, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku.

As Luffy and Sanji set sail, the latter of the two turned to look back at the Baratie and all it's chefs. "I will see you again! I'll come back someday!" He told them, his tears still fresh, as he waved farewell to them with both arms.

And in turn, all the chefs, with the sole exception of Zeff, waved back at him, all still crying as well, wishing him farewell.

Zeff stood a few feet behind the others, thinking to himself as the one he saw as his son sailed away. "As long as you sail with enough faith in yourself, that you have no fear, not even of death, you will find the All Blue, I'm sure of it."

"Alright men, customers'll be here soon, get to work already!" He barked at the rest of the cooks.

* * *

Nami had set the course for where she was going, and seeing as the weather was calm, she was able to leave the deck, not having to worry about suddenly changing course.

She lie on the bed in the cabin that she had been using since she had stepped foot on the Merry, her wounded hand wrapped up in bandages. The young orange haired girl was curled into a ball, as she cried her eyes out. All the agony, the sorrow, the guilt and the anger she had inside her...she was drowning in it all. She had no one to turn to and nowhere to go...because no one could take on her demons. They were far too great for anyone to fight. Which left her all alone in the dark depth that was her existence, always struggling, always fighting, but never getting anywhere. "Luffy..." She whimpered desperately, her tears ever falling.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

Alright, that wraps up the Baratie arc. Now then, you guys know what comes next. Next time I update, the Arlong Arc will begin, yay! I've been waiting to write these next few chapters since the very beginning. I cannot wait! See you guys then!


	23. Hope

Johnny Spectre: You do huh? I wonder if you'll be able to figure out what I'm going to do with some of the future arcs then...anyway, yes, now is when it really begins!

midnightscar17: No, he didn't tell anyone what happened with his hand. So as far as Zoro, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku know, Nami stabbed him dead in the chest. As for when the next chapter will be out, well, now.

FallenAlgon: Why thank you very much! As for them giving speeches as children, well, the way I see it, they speak from their heart, and that can sometimes lead to said speeches. And I don't think they would have been capable of those speeches if it wasn't for growing up together, with the influence of Bellemere, Makino and Sabo and such helping out anyway. Onto the Arlong arc, well yes there will be drama, but whether it'll lead to an explosive encounter like in chapter twenty...well, we'll see.

Finally, as for Robin being paired, well I'm undecided. I've seen moments in One Piece that definitely made me feel good as LuNa shipper, and I've always believed they should be together since I first saw the Arlong arc. Robin though...well there are a few pairings with her that make sense, but I've never seen much evidence for them. A bit for one or two, but nothing very substantial. So...I just might leave her unpaired, for this story anyway. I'll think on it and see what conclusion I come to.

Chop2NV: Thank you, I'm glad you like my story so much! They'll meet Mihawk soon enough, whether where you think they will or not, well, you'll see when it happens. And yeah, everyone seems excited for the Arlong arc, including me! As for if Arlong did anything new to Nami...well, nothing like you're thinking, but more abuse was thrown her way, that's for sure. And of course Luffy's going to flip out once he knows what Arlong did to her, he'll freak out worse than ever before, just you watch.

deant33: Actually, I plan to have them join in a different One Piece story I'm going to be writing. As for this one...well, I don't think they'd fit. They are awesome though.

Ranger Station Charlie: I kind of wanted to bring him along, and I will in other stories, but not this one. And yes, thankfully he won't ever follow Don Krieg the moron ever again.

Tonlor: Well, I'm glad I can make you giddy with joy then. :)

Okay, time for the first chapter of the much anticipated Arlong arc, let's jump right in! Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Nami stood at the front of the Merry, as she neared the docks of the Conomi Islands, more specifically the one located at Cocoyashi village. Her tears had been dried, she had loaded up all the treasure she had stolen so far since meeting Luffy once more, and she had showered and changed clothes, now wearing a green camisole with dark green flower like shapes spread across it, tight black pants that just barely reached her knees with two yellow rings on the sides, and light orange high-heeled sandals. All these things were done so that she was ready to face the person she despised most in this world...the man that for all intents and purposes, owned her.

In spite of the fact that the pirate mark on her arm was a great source of pain, anger and shame, she chose this outfit to specifically let it be shown to any who wanted to see it. As this man liked people to know what was his. She couldn't help but shudder in disgust at that thought. Tightening her grip on the grey duffel bag that held all the treasure and berris she had collected on her latest trip, she repressed all her negative feelings for that cruel, sadistic, racist sunuva bitch, and forced her face to take on a cold, unfeeling expression, as she came to the dock and needed to drop anchor.

After doing so, double checking so that the ship wouldn't go anywhere, she deboarded, walking out onto the docks. Stopping, she took a deep breath, as she prepared herself for what was to come. Releasing the breath, she walked off the docks into the village she called home. And as soon a she did, every single villager had their eyes on her, dropping whatever they were doing, shushing every conversation they were having, and altogether stopping all activity, as they stared at her with cold, hateful eyes.

She could tell what they were thinking just by the looks on their faces, they thought her an evil little witch who betrayed her family and spat in the face of the people who raised her and took care of her, but that was just fine with her. They could hate and scorn her all they wanted, as long as they were safe from him, then they could think whatever they wanted about her, it didn't matter.

However, when she neared the end of the village, Genzo caught her eyes. He looked just as she remembered, fair skin, a thick dark mustache, stitched up scars all over his body and he wore a police uniform, though red in color, the cap of the uniform also had a pinwheel on it. His eyes were what was different, they were filled with betrayal, scorn and hate, just like all the others. In spite of how many times she had seen him look at her like that in the past eight years, she would always think back to when he was her warm, loving father figure whenever she left, so when she did come back and see him like this, it hurt her all over again.

Nevertheless, she kept any of that hurt from showing, as she walked on by, making sure not to give him a second glance as she did. "It's all for them, it's all for them, it's all for them..." She had to continuously remind herself, so as to keep the tears from her eyes.

* * *

Beside the sound of Johnny and Yosaku paddling, it was silent on the boat that they shared with Zoro and Usopp. This silence lasted a long time, before finally, Usopp spoke, "Zoro...what's going to happen? When we catch up with Nami I mean. Luffy didn't give us any orders on that matter, he just said we had to catch up with her."

The green haired man stiffened a bit at that. His answer didn't come at first, as he seemed to think it over for a few moments, attracting Johnny's and Yosaku's attention as well, since they were wondering what he was going to say. "You let me worry about that witch. You three's job'll be to secure the Going Merry, while mine is to deal with that damn evil woman."

The long nosed sniper didn't seem to think that was too great of an idea, judging by the worried look on his face. "If you say so I guess, but...well, I mean we don't know what's going on. Luffy said it wasn't what we thought it was, on top of that, we really don't know why she's doing what she's doing. Maybe she has a good reason."

Zoro snorted at that. "Yeah, right. That devil woman has been nothing but trouble since we were children, and that obviously hasn't changed. As for what Luffy said, that's just it, that's what he always does, he covers it up. Whenever she hurts him, he always tries to make it out like it's not a big deal, like it's nothing, even though it tears him up inside. He's done that as long as I've known him." Zoro immediately thought about Ace at that, as his captain had done the same thing with him, always brushing off the abuse like it didn't matter, even though it very much did. Even Ace came to see that, changing his ways for the better.

Usopp was rendered speechless by his fellow crewmate's words, completely unsure of how to respond to them. Johnny and Yosaku were in the same boat as him on that matter.

Zoro closed his eyes then, but continued to speak. "Something you need to understand about Luffy, is that he will let people use him for their own gain, abuse him like he's a punching bag and scream at him as if he was a petulant child and the source of all their problems all day long, just as long as they say they're his friend. And while I will admit he can be very frustrating at times, he's taken shit that's far above and beyond simple reactions to his antics with a smile on his face. But that stops now. He's finally old enough to chase after his dream and now that I'm here with him, if anyone dares to treat him like that again, I'll gut them. That includes you." He opened his eyes as he finished speaking, glaring at the marksman after they opened.

And while the glare did indeed fill Usopp with fear, he was also filled with anger by the swordsman insinuating that he would do that to his best friend. Shooting to his feet, he met the older teen's glare with one of his own, as he proceeded to say, "I would never treat Luffy like that! He's my best friend! What do you take me for exactly!? How could you even think I would do something like that!?"

Zoro couldn't help but smirk at that. "Good, I'm glad to hear that."

That seemed to take some of the wind out of Usopp's sails. "Uh..." He wasn't sure how to respond to that. "T-that doesn't change anything! You've made me mad now!"

"Want to fight about it?" Zoro inquired.

Usopp's knees began to shake then, "Uh, on second thought..."

"I'm glad Luffy met you." Zoro said aloud, chuckling a bit as he did, thinking to himself all the while, "He's finally getting the friends he should have had when he was a child. With each new friend, the more impossible it will become for him to ever be alone again."

Usopp just wasn't sure how to respond at this point. He was still mad about what the older teen had said, but he was coming from a good place, showing that he cared a lot for Luffy. Seeing this, Zoro said one more thing. "Relax Usopp, I was just messing with you. I know you'd never do that to Luffy."

"Well, good!" He bit, before sitting back down.

* * *

"So, why did you split up with the rest of your crew, our crew now I guess, anyway?" Sanji asked of his new captain.

"Nami took off with our ship and all the treasure on board. I sent Zoro and Usopp after her, Johnny and Yosaku went along to help. She's in some kind of trouble, but she won't tell me just what it is. She wouldn't do this, not unless she had a good reason, I know it. We're going to help her, whether she likes it or not." Luffy answered, a frown crossing his face as he did.

"Nami, ah, I could just sit around all day and think about how beautiful she is. I can't wait till I get to see her again." Sanji said aloud, a light blush making itself present on his face as he did. That's when he registered everything the straw hat pirate had said after Nami's name. "She's in trouble? Then I will travel far and wide, I will fight anyone I need to, I'll do whatever is necessary to help her! She is...just like an angel in human form."

Luffy's frown grew at that. "Yeah, so?" He questioned, his annoyance almost detectable.

"What do you mean so!?" Sanji asked incredulously. "She's possibly the most beautiful thing on the seas, doesn't that mean anything to you!?"

"She is." Luffy said simply.

"She is what?" The blonde inquired, confused about what he was talking about for a moment.

"She is the the most beautiful thing on the seas." Luffy stated.

"Then you agree!" Sanji excitedly shouted, his blush reappearing after having disappeared a few moments ago.

"Yeah, but I still want to know why you care so much."

"What do you mean? She's a lady, why wouldn't I care?"

"But that's just it, you go crazy over every girl. Why do you have to do that with Nami too?" He asked the cook, his annoyance now able to be heard in his voice.

Sanji's eyes narrowed, his anger flaring up. "Excuse me?"

"Why do you have to go all gaga over Nami?" Luffy repeated.

As the blonde prepared to rebuttal, he remembered how the raven haired teen had talked about the orange haired beauty back when they were younger, stopping him. His eyes softening, he asked, "You love her, don't you? That's why you don't like it."

Luffy nodded his head at that.

Sanji couldn't help but chuckle. "I never thought I'd see the day, Monkey D. Luffy, in love with a girl, I honestly though it impossible. I mean, when you were staying at the Baratie, we had beauties coming in unlike any I had seen until that day and you didn't so much as bat an eye at them."

Shrugging his shoulders, he simply stated, "They weren't Nami.", as if that explained it all.

The blonde couldn't help but laugh outright at that. "You're one hell of a guy, you know that Luffy?"

* * *

As the four approached the Conomi Islands, they caught sight of Arlong park. And as they did, Johnny and Yosaku began to freak out.

"What are you two whining about?" Zoro inquired.

"Don't you realize where we're headed!? Do you not see that building that says Arlong Park on it!?" Johnny asked frantically.

"Arlong...that's the guy from that wanted poster." The swordsman thought to himself. "Yeah, so?" He questioned.

"Big Bro Zoro, don't you get it!? With every second that passes, we draw closer to islands controlled by the infamous Arlong!" Yosaku cried in fear.

"Oh no, that must be what Big Sis Nami is up to! She must want the thirty million berri bounty on Arlong's head!" Johnny shouted as he came to that realization.

"Again, I ask, so?" Zoro asked, a little annoyed at that point.

"Yeah, who is Arlong exactly?" Usopp questioned, having no idea who he was.

"Are you two telling me that you're so clueless that you've never heard of the evil Arlong!?" Yosaku yelled.

"If we're asking who he is, then we obviously don't know of him." Usopp stated.

Both Yosaku's and Johnny's heads dropped at that, staring at the floor of the boat they were in, disbelieving of how little these two knew about the East Blue.

Their heads shot back up to look at the two, as they went on to explain who Arlong is, still paddling all the while, though they didn't seem to notice that. "Listen up Bros, time for your lesson on the cunning shark that is Arlong! Arlong is a sawshark fishman who used to destroy everything in his path up and down the Grand Line. For you to understand how dangerous he is, I'll start from the beginning. The reason they call the Grand Line the pirate graveyard in the first place is because of Arlong and the other two powers like him who rule over it. The first of the powers are known as the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

Johnny took it from there. "The Seven Warlords are pirates authorized by the government. For a cut of their treasure the government looks the other way, giving them protection from the Marines, so that they can do as they wish without worry from them. Of course to other pirates, this makes them government dogs. Most would never dare say it to their faces though, because they didn't get to where they are by being weak, these guys are powerful. In fact, the man you're looking for, the one you hope to surpass Big Bro Zoro, Hawkeye Mihawk, is one of these warlords."

A large grin crossed Zoro's face then, "I see, good to know."

Yosaku picked back up on the explanation. "The first Warlord you should know about is Jimbei, captain of a crew of fishmen pirates. He is dangerous like no one you've ever known, easily causing as much havoc and destruction around the Grand Line as Arlong. There are also rumors circling that he was the one to unleash Arlong here in the East Blue. And since coming to the East Blue, he's taken control of over twenty towns! His strength easily surpasses anyone you've encounter, including that of Don Krieg!"

Zoro obviously didn't care, if the bored expression on his face was anything to go by. "And? That Krieg guy was a weakling, Luffy said it himself."

As Johnny and Yosaku looked like they would tear their hair out from not being able to get their frined to see how dangerous this was, Usopp was trying to keep from shaking in fear, to no avail, his entire body showing he was frightened. "M-ma-maybe we sh-should j-just turn around a-and lea-leave. We wouldn't wa-want to make a guy like that angry, would we?"

"Our orders were to find Nami, so that's what we're going to do." The swordsman said simply.

"I-I kn-know that, but ma-maybe she isn't here. Maybe she went somewhere else, I me-mean you never know."

"Usopp..." Zoro warned, showing he wasn't in the mood for this.

He couldn't stop shaking, but at his fellow crewmate's warning, he stopped talking about leaving. "Okay, never mind."

"We're here." The green haired man stood then, unsheathing his Wado a bit with his thumb, as he said, "Let's attack."

"Attack!?" Johnny and Yosaku shouted, before they noticed they were too close to the port of Arlong Park, the two quickl turning the boat around and rowing away from said park though staying close to the island as they did.

"Why would you want to do something stupid like that!?" Usopp asked incredulously. "You're an idiot, we know nothing about this place!" He shouted, his fear helping anger build.

As the two proceeded to argue, the bounty hunting duo took them to about the middle of the island, despite Zoro's protests, the four getting off the boat and stepping onto land, tying the boat to a tree afterwards.

"There, now we're here, you can go attack them if you want, but we're going to find the Merry, like you said we should. You happy with that?" Usopp questioned irritably, having been aggravated by the green haired man, as he would get them killed with the crap he wanted to do.

"Very." With that Zoro walked off in a random direction.

The other three sighed at that, before turning him around, then heading off themselves, not knowing he would turn back around only a minute later.

* * *

Sanji had just finished cooking both Luffy and himself a large meal, the two sitting down to eat, when the younger of the two pulled out a large sketch pad. Throwing a large hunk of meat into his mouth, he began to chew as he drew. Once done doing both, he presented the picture to his older friend. "I forgot to tell you, I saw a bounty poster of a fishman guy I'm sure has something to do with what's wrong with Nami. This is what he looks like."

The pictures was of a fish with arms and legs.

Sanji couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter at the sight of it.

"Actually, let me do this real quick." The straw hat teen said as he took it back and grabbed a color pencil while he was at it. Once done he presented the picture once more, only this time it had a long saw like nose, and was colored in with blue. "There, now it looks like that fishman guy." This just caused the blonde cook to laugh even harder.

Putting the sketch book down, Luffy dug in with gusto, while Sanji ate more slowly, after finishing his laughing trip first of course. Halfway through the meal though, he began to day dream. "Oh, what I would give to see Nami as a mermaid."

"Mmm!" Luffy tried to say with food in his mouth, whipping out his sketch pad once more, as he drew another picture and presented it to the blonde. It was of a fish with arms and legs with orange hair. "She'd look like this." He said after swallowing his food.

"Tear that up or I will kill you!" Sanji shouted at his younger friend, angered by his drawing.

Luffy proceeded to begin laughing then, while still digging in, after putting his sketch pad away again of course.

* * *

Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku ended up wandering into a ghost town. It was ghost town for good reason too, as the houses were all wrecks, large chunks looked to have been ripped from them, a few of them had even been flipped upside down and others were nothing but piles of debris. The stone walkway through the town had holes in it and was cracked all to hell. All in all, the place looked like it had been hit by a miniature tornado.

"What could have caused this kind of damage to an entire town?" Usopp questioned, almost disbelieving of the destruction

"It had to have been Arlong." Both bounty hunters said.

The three walked further into town, hoping to see somebody, but there was no one. That's what they thought anyway, until they saw a rather rotund fishman heading their way. "Ahh, run before he spots us!" Johnny, Yosaku and Usopp all cried in unison, before taking off in different directions.

Usopp was off quicker than most, running almost as fast as his leg could carry him. "If I keep running and don't stop, even if he did see me, he'll never get me. I'm way faster than him on land, I've gotta be! I'm a very fast runner after all!"

His train of thought was interrupted, as out of nowhere, a foot was stuck out in his path, and before he could coordinate himself to jump over it, he made contact and proceeded to trip over it, hitting the ground face first.

Usopp quickly turned over to where he could sit up, only to see a kid with a sword. "What the heck!?"

The kid had an orange hoodie on with a specific black mark in the middle, grey plaid shorts, ordinary black shoes and and a green beanie on his head. "Got you stupid fishman! And now I'll avenge my father by killing you!"

As Usopp flinched in fear for his life and the kid brought down the sword, someone stepped up behind him and proceeded to karate chop the top of his head, stopping him in his tracks.

This person was a thin young woman with fair skin, light blue hair and a very elaborate tattoo on her right arm that extended to her chest. As for what she wore, a beige sleeveless shirt, blue trousers, purple sandals, a red headband tied to where all you could see was a small red bow in her hair and a gold bracelet around her right wrist.

This young woman knelt down next to the kid then, speaking to him as she did, "Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you Chabo, never mess with the fishmen. It was just one person who decided to stand up to them and they responded by slaughtering everyone here in Gosa."

She turned her head to look at the long nosed teen then. "Hmm. You look and smell just like a fishman, but I can tell that you're human, mostly human anyways."

"Mostly!?" Usopp cried indignantly.

That's when the sound of the fishman drawing closer got all three of their eyes pointed towards where he as coming from. Jumping to his feet, Usopp readied his slingshot, as he prepared to fire. "Stand back and let me handle this! Watch as the great captain Usopp takes out this fishman with a single shot!"

Next thing Usopp knew, he was lying face down on the ground, being dragged away by the young woman, after she had hit him over the head with a small hammer to get him on the ground in the first place. "I guess he wasn't listening when I said that the fishmen would kill us if we messed with them. Come on tough guy, let's get you somewhere safe."

Seeing as the fishman hadn't seen anyone, it wasn't too hard to get the long nosed teen out of Gosa.

* * *

Zoro was starting to get very aggravated, as he was sure this was the same clearing he had been in earlier. "What's with this island!? Everything looks the same!" Only if he could understand that he had been going in circles for the past few minutes.

Looking around, he decided to go to the right. "I'll go this way this time." And then he went to the left, eventually circling around back to the same place. "I can't tell where the hell I'm going dammit!" Gritting his teeth, he placed on hand on the Wado, as he growled out, "I should just cut down all these damn trees, that oughta make finding the way to that stupid park a whole lot easier!"

Deciding to try one last time, he just went straight, and in doing so he ended up coming upon a fishman, who was happily humming to himself, as he finished eating his lunch.

"Hey you, you know where Arlong Park is don't you?" Zoro asked of the fishman, despite the fact that he was almost certainly an enemy.

The fishman's eyes went to the green haired man who asked that, before standing up, the bento box he had being left on the ground as he did. "Hey, who are you? Speak up now." He began firmly. His eyes widened a bit then, as he pointed at himself and proceeded to say, "Who, me? Well, I'm Hatchan, but all my friends call me Hatchi."

This guy, Hatchan was his name apparently, was an octopus fishman with six arms and two legs, with suction cups along all of his arms, a long face, pink skin, a muscular build, a red sun tattoo on his forehead and grey hair styled into five spikes. As for his attire, he wore a dark yellow and dark red striped one piece outfit, a light bluish green sash and black sandals.

"Well Hatchan, you wouldn't mind showing me the way to Arlong Park would you?" Zoro asked semi-sarcastically, expecting a no.

"No problem, I can do that easy!" Hatchan proclaimed.

The swordsman quirked a brow at that. "Really? You don't mind taking me there?"

"Of course not! You're a guest here so it's my job to take you to meet Arlong."

"Thanks. My name's Zoro by the way." the eighteen year old said, smirking as he did.

* * *

When Usopp regained consciousness, he was lying on the floor with a pink blanket draped over him. Sitting up, he began to look around. "Where am I?"

"My house." Answered the same blue haired girl that whacked him upside the head, who was sitting at a dining table in a chair, facing him. "Sleep well?"

"Who are you?" He asked, not realizing who it was at first.

"I'm Nojiko. I grow tangerines here, wanna try one?"

"Wait a sec, now I remember, you're the one who hit me over the head!" He yelled, as he realized it.

"I saved you, so don't get all upset. If you had actually gone through with attacking that fishman, you would've been killed for sure." She explained, before whispering under her breath, "Stupid outsider."

Usopp came over and took a seat beside Nojiko then, realizing that kid was gone as he did. "Hey, what happened to that kid?"

"I explained to him why he was a coward and sent him on his way."

"Sheesh, a coward? Little harsh don't you think?"

"No, I don't. You have to suffer to take revenge, as it isn't so easy to carve out. And idiots who throw their lives away because they're too foolish for patience tick me off."

"But he's just a little kid, he doesn't-"

"It's fine. I reminded him that he still had a mother to live for and sent him home. He'll be fine, just as long as he doesn't try anything stupid like that again."

Usopp looked surprised by her words, a few moments later though he couldn't help but chuckle. "You know, for a chick with tattoos you seem pretty sweet."

"Piss off." She bit.

He still chuckled anyways.

"Now then, it's time you told me why you decided to come here to these islands."

"Oh, yeah. My name is captain-, what I meant to say was my name is Usopp, and I'm here looking for a girl named Nami on my captain's orders."

"Nami huh?" Nojiko repeated, a gleam in her eye. "Let me tell you a little about the girl you were sent here for, and we'll see if you still want to see her again."

* * *

As Nami entered Arlong Park, three men in particular waited for her. The first and second stood on either side of the third, who sat in a chair.

The first was a moderately muscular smelt-whiting fishman, had light blue skin, thick lips, a tattoo of the Arlong Pirates jolly roger on his right shoulder and mid neck length dark blonde hair. His wore a striped blue vest, dark brown leather pants, beige sandals and necklace of some kind. His name was Chu.

The Second was a muscular ray fishman, had light bluish gray skin, black hair put into a very long braid that trailed all the way down his back and a sun tattoo on the right side of his chest. As for what he wore, a dark blue gi and a black belt. His name was Kuroobi.

And finally, the third was a large, muscular, blue saw-shark fishman with long black hair in a widow's peak style reaching down to his shoulders, had a saw-shaped nose, a sun tattoo on the left side of his chest, and the jolly roger of the Arlong Pirates tattooed on his lower left arm. His attire consisted of a brown ear hat, a short sleeved, open yellow shirt with a bunch of black lighting like spots spread across the material, green bermuda shorts, a blue sash, a golden chain bracelet around both ankles with straw like decorations, as well as a gold chain bracelet around his left wrist and simple gray sandals. And this man's name was...

"Arlong." Nami addressed him, as she walked over, stopping about four feet from him, dropping the duffel bag she held in front of her as she did.

"Nami, you've returned. I haven't seen you around here in quite awhile, you must have been busy. So, how did you do this time?"

"One of the best runs I've had yet. I made out with a good deal. I can't believe the world is so full of such blind idiots. All of whom just offer up their berris when they see a young girl in distress or a pretty face. Want to see?"

Arlong chuckled at that. "Such a conniving and cunning woman, and a great liar too. You truly are the witch they call you aren't you?"

"Maybe." She said, a false smirk on her face as she did.

That's when Hatchan entered the compound, scratching his head in confusion as he did, looking about as if he had lost something.

"Hatchi, look, Nami's back." Arlong told his octopus crewmate.

"Nami?" As Hatchan turned and looked at her, he gave a genuine smile. "It is Nami! Welcome back Nami!"

"Listen up everybody, Nami's finally returned, time for a party!" Arlong yelled, getting all the other fishmen to come out, hooting and hollering as they did.

As the party began, Arlong asked the question many of his crew were wondering, though not in worried sense. "So Nami, it seems you've come back wounded again. What happened to your hand?"

"Nothing much, just something to do with the latest suckers I robbed blind."

Arlong couldn't help but laugh at that. "I see, tell me about them."

A cruel, wicked smile crossed her face then. "First there was this cowardly marksman, always trying to hide behind everyone else. I stole from his entire village and his little rich girlfriend, no one even noticed by the time we left. I couldn't help but laugh behind his back after he thanked me with tears in his eyes for helping his village stop a pirate attack, having no clue that I only did so for the treasure they had. Then there was this moronic swordsman, always screwing things up, getting into fights and making everything worse, not to mention he smelled. Unfortunately the bastard was broke, so I wasn't able to get anything off him."

"Finally, the captain. I saved the best for last, because this guy was a real piece of work. First of all, he's probably the most idiotic person I've ever met, seriously, he could qualify as brain dead. All he could think about was his next meal, meat this meat that, always stuffing his stupid face. And if he wasn't talking about meat or eating it, he was claiming he would be the next King of the Pirates because it was his dream, screaming at the top of his lungs like an angry baboon that won't shut up." All the fishmen broke into rowdy laughter at that.

"Oh, it gets better, trust me. Then, if he wasn't insufferable enough already, he goes and tells me he loves me." All their laughter grew even louder at that. "I know, ridiculous right? How does someone as idiotic as him even know what love is? Anyways, I laughed in his face of course, and you should of seen it, he broke down and cried like a baby, it was just unbelievable. Even after I made it clear I didn't want his stupid ass, he got real clingy, and kept preventing me from leaving, so, I ended up stabbing the stupid sunuva bitch in the chest and taking off with his boat. During the struggle he got ahold of the knife and tried to stab me instead, but his aim sucked and he ended up piercing my hand instead, that's why my hand is bandaged." She finally explained.

As most of the fishmen began to somehow laugh even harder, Hatchan came to Nami's side. "You're hurt? Do you want Hachi to change your bandages?"

"No, I'm fine Hachi. Could you hold onto this bag for me though? I need a breath of fresh air, so I'm going to take a walk." She replied, picking up the duffel bag and handing it to him as she did.

"Alright, I can do that!"

"Thanks Hachi."

* * *

Nami took a breath of relief as she exited Arlong Park, not sure how much longer she would have been able to handle that. She turned and walked along the gate of Arlong Park, knowing she couldn't go too far. Once she reached the corner, she turned it, and came face to face with none other than Roronoa Zoro.

The very first thing she noticed were his eyes, they were filled with an intense rage that she had never seen from him before, it was so severe it almost made her flinch. Before she could move, speak, or even breathe, he was in her face and had forced her back up against the wall, the blade of his Wado so close to her throat that she could feel the steel on her neck, only the tiniest bit of pressure keeping her from having her throat cut and her life ended. And as this happened, the young navigator couldn't help herself as an involuntary gasp escape her.

The two made eye contact, as the green haired swordsman wasted no time in beginning to speak, his voice filled with the same rage that resided in his eyes. "You traitorous fucking bitch! How could you!? How could you!?" He repeated, his teeth grit, his face showing all his anger. "After everything he went through growing up, after all he's done to keep you safe and happy, after everything you've put him through, you just had to go and make it worse and stab him in the back didn't you!? Are you trying to break him!? Are you trying to screw his life up so much that he can't deal with it anymore!? Are you trying make his life so miserable that he can't take it anymore!? He does everything he can for you and it's never enough! Will you not be happy until he's dead!? Is that what you want, do you want him to die!?"

"No!" Nami was already full to the point of bursting with inner turmoil, but as Zoro threw everything in her face, it only added fuel to the fire, the young girl wouldn't be able to handle much more. However what next came out of Zoro's mouth would push the young navigator over the edge.

"If I'd of had my way your ass would have been off the ship and out of the crew after we left Syrup Village for the way you treated Luffy! He's been in love with you since I don't even know how long! You've wormed your way so deep into his heart that you're a permanent part of his dream! Believe me I know, I can see it! He's so devoted to you that he set out to find you first so that he could help make your dream come true! He's always there for you! And how do you repay him!? By belittling him in front of his crew, by making fun of him, by ripping his heart out, tearing it into pieces and stomping it into the dirt! You didn't just disregard his feelings for you, you've also convinced him of what I've known for quite awhile now, that you'll never return them in any way, shape or form! You've deeply hurt, scarred and damn near broken my best friend within the span of less than a goddamn month, so give me one good reason why I shouldn't end your worthless, pathetic excuse for a life right here and right now!?" The blade of the Wado pushed against her skin just a tad more, drawing blood from her flesh as it did, showing the swordsman was absolutely serious and would indeed follow through with this.

No longer able to hold it together, the tears that had been welling up in her eyes began to fall, as she began to sob, crying not because of the pain she felt in a physical sense but in the emotional sense. "You're right."

"What!?" Zoro questioned, not sure if he had heard her right.

"I said you're right. I've done nothing but hurt him, while he's done nothing but try to make me happy, to protect me, to help me. I've been such a bitch!" Her voice rose then, in spite of the risk of being caught by Arlong and the others. "The things I've said to him felt like bile in my throat, they burned my lips and tongue as I spoke them, and they hurt him so much that he cried! I never wanted to make him cry, ever! But...I didn't have a choice! I didn't have a choice!"

"What the hell do you mean you didn't have a choice!?" Zoro asked, his anger flaring. "No one forced you to hurt him like you did!"

"I-I-I had to!" She exclaimed through sobs, as they became harder and harder. "If I didn't make him hate me, then he would have followed me here! He would have tried to fight Arlong! And he would have died! I couldn't do it, I couldn't handle that! If Luffy died, I don't think I could keep going! Arlong's already taken so much from me, I won't let him take Luffy too!"

By gazing into her eyes, he could see that she spoke the truth, his own eyes softening, as he pulled the sword from her throat, stepping away from her as he did.

With him no longer holding her up, she collapsed to her knees, as she began to cry her eyes out, the sobs racking her body so hard she shook. "I-I wi-wish he knew that! I wish he knew why I did it! And I wish...I-I-I...I wish I could tell him how sorry I am...and how much I love him!" She broke down into nothing but unintelligible sobs then.

Zoro could only stare down at her, his eyes wide, completely taken back and off guard by this. What she said, it was completely true, he could see that, he believed her. He just...never thought that he would. He had no words, so only her sobs filled the air for the next minute or so.

Finally, Zoro spoke up, getting Nami's attention as he sheathed his Wado. "You'll get your chance to tell him everything, because he'll be here soon, to save you from this." His words were full of conviction and certainty, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that Luffy would free her from Arlong.

Nami was speechless as she stared up at Zoro, only the sound of her sobs coming through. She had done everything she could to prevent just such a thing from happening, to keep Luffy as far away from Arlong as possible. And yet, now...she felt a sense of hope return to her, as Zoro said Luffy would come to save her, because...she knew he was right.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

Also, in case you guys hadn't picked up on it, Zoro saw the whole thing about Nami talking bad about him, Usopp and Luffy, which is what set him off when she came outside.


	24. Mother Martyr Bellemere

pipi96: Hmm, I'll think about it. But...not sure it'll happen.

Aarik Wrath: No, I understood that, but you said that was the only good fight he had besides Mihawk. I'm asking what fight you are referring to. His fight with Cabaji in Cannon? His fight with the Buggy Pirates in my story? His fight with Pearl in my story? You couldn't have meant Daz Bones because that's afterward, that's why I was asking which battle you were referring to. They didn't? I believe you're right about that. It's been so long since I've seen that fight, I need to go back and watch it.

F-ckthesystem125: Yes, just a bit more and it'll all come to a head, yay! As for how far I plan on taking this story, I assume you mean when will the final chapter take place? If that is what you're asking, let me tell you that I plan on going through until each member of the Straw Hat Pirates has reached their dream, so in other words, to the very end.

Chop2NV: Thank you! And I enjoyed Zoro finally chewing Nami out for what she's done to Luffy as well. As for Luffy, Zoro and Sanji fighting at full strength, well, not exactly. Remember how Sanji had most of his ribs broken? Yeah, while he definitely heals faster than the normal human, he doesn't heal as fast as Luffy does, so he won't be at full strength for his fight I'm afraid. As for not being able to wait for the next chapter, well, here it is.

Guest talking about Zoro and Robin: I'm not sure to be honest. I mean...there are two other pairings in my mind that make more sense than that. One I can't go with, and the other...well, like I said, I'm thinking it over.

thewittywhy: Do you honestly think he'll leave him alive? Just ask yourself that.

GTI: Thank you so much, I very much appreciate that you recognize the work that goes into this. Not that it's just work, I find it fun too, don't worry. As for how the story is being told, I'm glad you like it, and I'm also glad you stuck with it and didn't abandon it when you saw it was sticking close to Cannon for awhile. I promise all of you, the further we get into the story, the less Cannon should be involved. Now onto your thoughts on Robin, I understand completely. One of the only real pairings with her that works, to me at least, is with Luffy. And well...this isn't a harem story. I will be writing a few of them though, so yeah. I'll probably go that route and leave Robin unpaired for this story. Thanks for your input.

Finally, as for Luffy yelling something different, I'm thinking on it. As of right now, unless I come up with something better, he's going to shout what he told her when they were children, that she would always be his navigator.

Ranger Station Charlie: I think I may be starting to spoil people's fun by telling them who won't join, so I'll just say this, there will be two more Straw Hats than the original nine, one of them will be male, the other will be female. Anyway, yes, Zoro is definitely one hell of a bro, the best in fact.

LordCanine: Yes, we are almost there. Only a little further...man I cannot wait! Will he snap when he finds that out? Hmmm...you'll just have to wait and see.

Johnny Spectre: Goddamn that is impressive. Very nice indeed. I wonder just how many things you'll sense coming from my story? I guess we'll see as I go along.

Second chapter of the Arlong arc is here! Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Luffy and Sanji neared the Conomi Islands, and while they had been tempted to hit Arlong Park first, the sight of the boat Zoro, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku left in convinced them to bring their boat up to theirs, tying it to a tree as well. "Alright we're here, now where are the others?" Sanji questioned after taking a particularly long drag of his cigarette.

"Well Zoro gets lost a lot, so they might be looking for him." Luffy offered.

The blonde sighed at that. "I knew that guy was a moron."

Luffy took a look around then, wondering where they should go. "Hmmm..." Thinking it over, he just followed his instincts and took a right, "We'll go this way."

The newest member of the crew quirked a brow at that, "Do you even know where you're going?"

"No clue." Luffy answered bluntly.

He rolled his eyes at that, saying under his breath, "Rubber idiot." Nevertheless he followed after the younger teen.

The two walked along for a few good minutes, until they managed to come across a village. The moment they stepped foot into the village, all eyes were on them, staring. They weren't stares of hate, anger, fear or even curiosity, they were stares of pure confusion.

"They're looking at us as if we both grew second heads." Sanji remarked.

"Yeah." Luffy affirmed simply.

"Don't you even care why?"

"Not really. I just want to find the others." Luffy told him.

"Alright." Sanji responded, knowing that it wasn't even worth the argument.

As they made it deeper into the village, a man stepped forward and blocked their path. "What are you two doing here? Don't you know what's going on here on this island?"

"Not really." The straw hat teen replied, taking a good look at the man as he did, sure he knew him from somewhere. Then, he noticed the pinwheel on his hat. "Wait a sec, you're Genzo aren't you?"

The man looked taken back by that, "How do you know my name young man?"

Just as a smirk crossed the rubber pirate's face, cries of, "Luffy!", were heard.

Turning to look at who was calling his name, the pirate captain saw Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku all rushing towards him. "Hey you guys! Where's Zoro? Have you found Nami yet?" He asked them as they came closer.

"Nami?" Genzo questioned, wondering to himself, "They're here for Nami...?"

"Never mind that!" Usopp shouted.

"Yeah, we need to find Big Bro Zoro and get the hell out of here now!" Yosaku yelled.

"Nami was a traitor all along! She's been gaining Arlong's trust so that she could have the treasure buried in Cocoyashi village all to herself! And as soon as she finds out we're here, she'll sick him and his fishmen on us! Because she'll stop at nothing until she gets what she's after!" Johnny yelled as well, as they came to a stop in front of the other two.

Luffy reached out and grabbed the tanned bounty hunter, pulling him close, as he yelled back, "Shut your mouth! Nami isn't like that!"

In spite of being manhandled at the moment, Johnny continued on. "Yes she is! She betrayed her entire village and her family, all so she could join Arlong's crew!"

Luffy, his anger clear in his eyes and on his face, proceeded to toss Johnny to the ground, the man landing on his back, before the rubber man was on top of him, pinning him to the ground, his right fist cocked back and his left hand holding tightly onto his collar. "Don't you say another goddamn word! Nami would never betray Bellemere and Nojiko, not in a million years! If you so much as think that again, I'll kill you!" He screamed in the older man's face.

All the villagers eyes were wide at this scene, their thoughts all running along the same track, "He has that much faith in her?"

"Luffy, he's telling the truth!" Yosaku told him, trying to get him to believe them.

"Nami's sister told me this herself Luffy!" Usopp spoke up, trying to get Luffy to listen.

"You're lying!" Luffy bit, looking up at the long nosed teen as he did.

"You really think I'd lie about something like this!?" Usopp inquired angrily.

"You have to be! Nami wouldn't do that, ever!" Luffy insisted.

"Listen all of you-" Before Genzo could finish his sentence, someone else spoke. "I thought I told you not to go running off and making a scene." A feminine voice said.

All eyes then went to Nojiko, as she entered the village. Her eyes widened suddenly, as she caught sight of a certain raven haired teen. "Luffy, what are you doing here?" She asked, as she came closer to him.

Genzo's eyes widened at that, "That's the Luffy?"

"Nojiko...what's going on?" The sixteen year old questioned, as he got off of Johnny and stood up. "Nami's hiding something from me and no matter how hard I try, I can't get her to tell me what it is. Just what is going on here on this island?"

The blue haired teen came close and proceeded to hug the rubber man, said man returning the hug, the two pulling apart after a few moments. "There's so much that's happened...so much you need to know...and none of it is good." She informed him sadly.

"I see." Luffy lowered his head then, unsure of what to say. He settled on not focusing on all of this yet, as he introduced Nojiko to his friends. "Guys, this is Nojiko, Nami's sister."

"Wait, this is Nami's sister, no wonder she's so hot!" Sanji exclaimed, his eyes turning into hearts as he did.

"I've already met these three." She said, referring to Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku as she did, while ignoring Sanji. "You know, if you had told me that you were apart of Luffy's crew, then I would have explained things a little better." She told Usopp in particular, as when Johnny and Yosaku showed up at her house, Usopp had told them what she had told him and they took off running.

"How was I supposed to know you weren't telling me the truth!?" Usopp asked incredulously.

"I was telling you the truth, only it was all a half truth, that's all." Nojiko explained.

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know that!?" He repeated his question.

"Look it doesn't matter now. I just need you guys to follow me back to my house and I'll tell you everything there."

"Why can't you do that here?" The marksman inquired.

"Because Arlong's men could visit this village at any time, and if they spot you, it won't be good for anyone."

Usopp gulped in fear at that. "R-right."

"Let's go then." Luffy said.

As they prepared to leave the village, Genzo stepped forward to try and talk to them but Nojiko stopped him. "Not now Genzo. I need to let Luffy know what's happened since Nami and I saw him last. And he's not going to take it well, the less people there when he finds out, the better."

"But-"

"Please, just trust me on this."

* * *

Zoro and Nami were currently on their way to her house, as after she had went back into Arlong Park and grabbed her bag full of treasure and berris, she came out and told him to follow her. He of course asked where they were going, so she told him, during one of the times she had to go back and turn him around so he would continue to follow her. As they made their way there, they argued...

"I can't believe how stupid your being!"

"Stupid!? You're the stupid one! Don't you understand, if I do things my way there won't even be a chance for any more blood to be spilled!"

"If we do things Luffy's way, this'll all be done and over with in an hour!"

"Maybe, but I don't want to take that chance! What if Arlong's too strong and Luffy can't beat him!? What if before Luffy does defeat him, he kills Usopp or you or one of the villagers of Cocoyashi!? I refuse to take that chance!"

"You damn stubborn woman! You finally admit you're wrong and then you go right back to being your pig headed know it all self! I thought I made it clear to you, Luffy will save you from that fishman bastard!"

"And I thought I made it clear to you, I'm doing this my way, whether you like it or not! I've already collected eighty five million berris, with what I have in this bag, the total goes up to ninety eight million berris! Understand!? I only have two million berris left to go, and then I can free this island and myself from that monster! And without anyone else dying in the process! That's all I want!"

Zoro growled in annoyance at that. "You're more trouble than you're worth you damn witch!"

"I could say the same about you moron." She shot back.

As the two continued to bicker, they eventually reached Nami's house, and when they went inside, they were surprised to see Luffy, Nojiko, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku waiting for them.

"Nami!" Luffy, Nojiko, Usopp and Sanji exclaimed upon seeing her.

"Big Sis!" Yosaku and Johnny exclaimed as well.

"Luffy!" Nami said in surprise, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Luffy." Zoro greeted, knowing he'd have been here sooner or later, a small smirk on his face as he did.

"Nami, we need to talk. I-" Luffy began moving toward Nami as he did, but was cut off as she dropped her bag and ran to him, slamming into him as she wrapped him in a tight embrace, beginning to cry as she did. "I'm so sorry Luffy!"

He was taken back, that was for sure. After all she had said and done...well, while he knew it was an act in his heart, it still made him believe she didn't love him like he did her. Nevertheless, as she buried her head in the side of his neck and began to cry, he returned the embrace, wrapping her tightly in his arms.

And as she began to cry, Nojiko and Zoro ushered everyone out, so that the two could be alone for what came next.

Nami was sobbing into Luffy, holding onto him for dear life as she did. She pulled her head away from his neck so she could look into his eyes, as she begged for his forgiveness. "Please Luffy, forgive me! I never wanted to hurt you! All those things I said to you, none of them were true! Not even a single one! I do love you! I love you more than anything else in the world! All I want is to sail with you and be your navigator, nothing would make me happier! I want to be yours! I am yours! I swear to you I-"

She was cut off as Luffy's lips met hers, claiming them with his, her eyes widening as he kissed her for the first time, stealing her first kiss and giving her his in return. After a moment though, her eyes relaxed and closed, as she melted into it. It felt as if the whole world fell away as held her in his arms and kissed her.

She wasn't sure when he pulled away, but he eventually did, both his and her cheeks somewhat flushed from not breathing for awhile. "L-Luffy..." She spoke his name hesitantly.

His eyes were fierce as he stared back into hers. "You didn't mean it right? So it doesn't matter. You don't need to apologize, so don't. I love you Nami...I don't when when it started...but I've loved you for a really long time. I still don't really know what it means to be in love, whether there are certain things you are supposed to do or whatever...but what I do know, is that I want you by my side for the rest of my life and that if that's what you want too, then nothing can stand in the way of us making it happen."

Staring back at him, Nami was rendered speechless for several long moments, before she finally said through sobs, "I-it doesn't work like that, y-you idiot."

"Why not?" Luffy questioned seriously.

"Be-because i-it j-just does-doesn't."

"Then I'll make it work like that." He told her firmly, leaving no room for argument.

She couldn't help but crack a smile at that, fighting back giggles as she did. "Yo-you are ju-just so...you, you know that?"

"Is that a bad thing?" He inquired honestly.

She shook her head at that. "Not at all. It's the best thing in the world in fact." She kissed him on his cheek after she said that.

She leaned forward then and rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent as she did. He did the same, letting the silence between them be, as there was no need to break it.

However, the orange haired teen eventually did. "Luffy?" She said his name without removing her head from his shoulder, wanting to stay where she was.

"Yeah?"

"I have to ask you to do something...and you're going to hate it."

"Nami...I'll do anything for you, no matter what it is." He told her, trying to relieve her of her worries over the matter.

"I know but...you aren't going to like this one bit." She bit her bottom lip then, not hard enough to hurt, just doing so because she wasn't certain how to say this. After a few moments, she released the pressure her teeth had on her bottom lip, and spoke up. "I want you to let me handle Arlong on my own."

He pulled away so he could look at her and opened his mouth to immediately object, but she put her hand to his mouth gently, as she said, "Shush and let me finish." While it was obvious he didn't like it, he kept quiet as she pulled her hand away and continued to speak, "Arlong is a vile, narcissistic, racist monster...but he never ever breaks a promise when it comes to money." She sighed then, not one of defeat or annoyance, more like one of someone who knew there ordeal was almost over, not quite relieved, but close enough. "I've seen it with my own eyes, it doesn't matter if he hates their guts, if the two of them made a deal with money, then he will uphold his end of the bargain no matter what." She explained to the boy she loved.

"He made a promise to me eight years ago when he first arrived on this island, that if I could amass a sum of one hundred million berris, I could buy my village and my freedom from him. So if I can come up with the money, he'll leave and never come back. I've already collected ninety eight million Luffy, I'm so close, so very close to freeing this place and myself. I ask that you wait patiently for one day, only twenty four hours, and I'll have it taken care of."

"Nami-" He began to protest, but was cut off by her once more. "Please Luffy, let me handle this my way, I'm begging you. You, Zoro and Sanji may be monsters, but you might not be a match for the real monsters that Arlong and his men are. And above all else, I'm terrified of losing you to him. I can't bare the thought of you dying Luffy. Please, please, if I take care of this with money, no more blood has to be spilled, no one else has to die. Promise me that you'll let me do this my way."

Luffy didn't seem so sure, the expression on his face making that more than clear. So, Nami tried one more time. "You've waited eight long years to be with me Luffy, I'm just asking you to wait for one more day, surely that won't be too bad right?"

Luffy pouted then, half serious as he did. "Fine Nami, you win. I promise to wait one day while you take care of it your way."

"Yes! Thank you so much Luff-" He cut her off then. "On one condition."

She blinked in surprise at that. "Uh, okay, sure. What is it?"

His eyes narrowed a bit then, "Tell me what happened to Bellemere." He hadn't seen her once since arriving, no one who lived on this island had mention her, and when he mention her to Nami she would avoid him, he knew something was up.

Her eyes widened considerably at that. She didn't speak though, she couldn't, the lump in her throat was preventing her from doing so. She swallowed it down after a few moments, managing to force a few words out afterwards, "Alright...come with me then." She managed to get those words out without her voice quivering.

She pulled away from him, ending their embrace, as she moved toward the door. He followed after her as they exited the house, to see Zoro sitting with his legs crossed, Usopp bickering with Sanji, a footprint visible on his face as he did, Johnny and Yosaku talking about something, and Nojiko standing near the green haired swordsman, sharing what seemed to be a small conversation with him. All their eyes went to Luffy and Nami as they came outside though.

"So, what are we doing?" Zoro questioned.

Nami was the one to answer however. "Follow me, Nojiko and I have something to tell you guys."

Nojiko, who saw the emotions in her little sister's eyes, knew what this was going to be about immediately. "Come on, keep up." She told everyone but Luffy and Nami, as she followed after the two, the rest of them coming along as well.

* * *

Nami and Nojiko led them through a forest out onto a grassy cliff with a grave on it, a wooden cross sticking out of it. And as soon as Luffy and Zoro laid their eyes on it, they widened a great deal, as they knew who's it was immediately.

"A grave?" Usopp questioned.

"Obviously." Sanji commented.

"Who's is it?" Both bounty hunters asked together.

"This is where our mother...Bellemere lies." Nami told them.

Sanji's, Usopp's, Johnny's and Yosaku's eyes all widened at those words.

"As for how she died..." Nojiko began.

"It all started a week after we got back to Cocoyashi." Nami added, intending to help her sister tell this story.

* * *

_Eight Years Ago..._

_Nami pouted as Bellemere presented her a sunflower dress that used to belong to Nojiko, that the red haired woman had altered into a lion dress, with the words I am lion stitched onto it. "Whaddaya think Nami?" The thirty year old asked her._

_"Why do I always have to get Nojiko's hand me downs? Can't I have some new clothes for once?" She whined._

_"I know it's not new, but it won't be so bad to wear it right? At least it's not the same as when Nojiko wore it." She drew her daughter's attention to the lion on the shirt as she said that._

_"I guess, but that lion used to be a sun flower, anyone can tell that." She told her mother._

_"You should be happy with what you get Nami. If it wasn't for hand me downs then you wouldn't get any new clothes at all." Nojiko said a little harshly._

_"But that's not fair! You get new clothes all the time!" Nami replied heatedly._

_"I do not! I have to wear old hand me downs too ya know!" Nojiko responded just as heatedly._

_Just as Nami was going to say something she would regret, she remembered something that Bellemere had once said to Luffy. 'It doesn't matter if you aren't related to us by blood, as far as I'm concerned, you're family.' And that kept her from saying what she was about say. Still angry though, she huffed, before walking to the door. "I'm gonna go see Genzo." She slammed the door on her way out._

_Bellemere sighed at that. "You two girls...one minute you're the best of friends and the next you're fighting like cats and dogs."_

_"Yeah well...she's just stubborn." Nojiko said._

_"But so are you." Bellemere pointed out._

_"I know, that's why we fight so much." Nojiko explained._

_Bellemere chuckled at that. "Yeah, I guess that make sense."_

_The red head stood there, thinking as she watched Nojiko. Before finally, she decided on what she had been thinking about. Crouching down, she opened some cabinets and got out some pots and pans, bringing them back up with her and placing them on the counter. "Nojiko, why don't you go get your sister and bring her home, tell her I'm making her favorite and she should come right on back. That way you two can make up over dinner."_

_Nojiko couldn't help but smile at that, "Okay!"_

_As she ran out to go get her sister, Bellemere got ready to cook. "Well, it's gonna wipe out my budget, but for my girls, it's worth it."_

* * *

_As Nojiko poked her head through Genzo's door, she saw Nami sitting with him and talking. Upon seeing her, they greeted her. Coming into the house, she spoke to her younger sister, "Come on Nami, Bellemere wants us to come home and make up."_

_"Yeah, okay." She agreed, as she got down and came outside with her older sister._

_"Oh and guess what?"_

_"What?"_

_"Bellemere's making your favorite, omelettes with tangerine sauce!"_

_Nami's face lit up at that. "I love omelettes with tangerine sauce!"_

_"Well that's why she's making it, now come on!"_

_Nami giggled and nodded her head, and the two prepared to take off towards their house. Before they could however, shouts of, "Pirates are coming, everybody run!", caught their attention, the two turning around to see what was going on._

_"It's the Arlong Pirates!"_

_"That's impossible!"_

_"Why would fishmen from the Grand Line come here!?"_

_As the villagers continued to freak out about the fishmen pirates, Genzo came to the two girls. "Nami, Nojiko."_

_"Genzo, what's going on?" They asked worriedly._

_"Pirates are coming, so it's too dangerous for you here, go hide in the woods."_

_"But what about-" Nami began, before Genzo cut her off. "You must go, now!"_

_Both girls looked apprehensive about running, but did so anyway. Little did Genzo know they stopped and hid behind a house, as the pirates came into the village._

_Arlong, Hatchan, Kuroobi and Chu led a large group of fishmen into Cocoyashi village, coming to a stop in the middle of it with all the villagers eyes on them. "Greetings and salutations you pathetic little humans. From this moment on this entire island and it's inhabitants are a part of my domain!" All his fishmen brethren cheered as Arlong made this proclamation. "Now listen closely, on the first day of every month you will buy your lives from me. A hundred thousand berris for adults, fifty thousand for children. Those who cannot pay will die!" The sawshark fishman began to laugh after that, finding the horrified looks on all the villagers faces just too amusing._

_"What are we going to do Nojiko? We don't have that much money." Nami voiced her worry to her big sister._

_"These fishmen shouldn't be able to find our house, I mean, you can't see it from here." Nojiko said, trying to keep her sister from worrying,_

_Unfortunately, after the money had been gathered up from everyone else, one of the fishmen spoke up. "Arlong look, there's smoke coming from outside the village."_

_"Huh? Well, looks like we almost missed one. Let's go collect." Arlong said with a sinister smirk._

_Both young girl's eyes widened to the max at that. "Bellemere!"_

* * *

_Bellemere hummed to herself as she cooked her youngest daughter's favorite dish. "Come to think of it, this is Luffy's favorite dish of mine too. He'd still take meat off the bone over it anytime though." She giggled to herself as she thought about that._

_Her thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock at the door. Stopping what she was doing, she looked over to it, as if that would somehow tell her who was there. "That's strange..." She thought to herself._

_Looking out the window, she saw bunches of shadows, and as she did, her eyes narrowed. "I smell trouble."_

_She took off the apron she put on to cook, lying it on the kitchen counter, as she left the kitchen and moved over to the door. "It's open, come in."_

_"Why thank you." She heard a voice respond, as she slipped behind the door, retrieving her rifle as she did._

_Arlong stepped into the house, looking around for it's owner as he did, a smug, almost evil smirk on his face. After looking around for a couple of moments however, that fell away to a toothy scowl, as he couldn't see anyone._

_Bellemere lit a match, which she used to light a cigarette she had taken out of a pack and put in her mouth when she was hiding, before waving the match, extinguishing the flame. Just as Arlong noticed the light from the flame, Bellemere decked him square in the jaw with a left kick, knocking him back and out of the house, falling onto the ground outside, the red head coming with him, landing on his chest in a sitting position as she cocked the rifle she held, before placing the barrel of the rifle firmly in his mouth near the back of his throat._

_The rest of the fishmen outside didn't so much as bat an eye as this happened._

_Now looking down into Arlong's eyes, Bellemere spoke, "I guess you weren't expecting a former marine, otherwise you would have better defended yourself. Now, what would a pirate from the Grand Line want with a little village like Cocoyashi?" She questioned, though she was sure she already knew the answer, as she had studied his file thoroughly when she was a marine._

_All of the fishmen, including Arlong, began to laugh at that. "What's so funny?" She scoffed._

_That's when Arlong tried to bite down on the rifle, just before his teeth could make contact with it however, she yanked the barrel out of his mouth. "Not fast enough." She remarked with a smirk._

_Taking aim she proceeded to fire on one of the fishmen standing before her, hitting him dead on in the head, killing him instantly as the bullet ripped through his flesh and bone and popped out the back of his head, his body falling to the ground with a thud right afterward. Switching sights to another one, she fired again, the bullet hitting it's mark as it tore through his chest and pierced his heart, the oddly colored skin man gasping before he fell to the ground, dead the moment he hit it._

_All the other fishmen, excluding Arlong, were surprised by this and then quickly angered. Arlong was pissed, his eyes narrowing a great deal. "You filthy human bitch!" As he tried to grab her, she put her feet to the ground and kicked herself off of his abdomen, landing on her back just a foot or so away. A third shot came racing out of the barrel of the rifle then, flying in the direction of a particularly husky fishman, going straight through his throat like it was nothing, said large fishman grasping his neck as if that would somehow help him, falling to his knees as he began to choke on his own blood. The other fishmen tried to help him, but it was of no use. __Hatchan was then in her sights, firing a fourth round from the chamber of her rifle as soon as he was. The bullet came speeding at him, hitting him in the stomach but failing to go all the way through, the octopus man yelping in pain. "Hachi!" Many of them yelled in worry._

_Now on his feet, Arlong stepped forward and reached down to grab ahold of Bellemere, his teeth bared as he did. "Stop it now! I won't allow you to harm my brothers!"_

_Before he could actually grab her though, she spat her lit cigarette in his face, it hitting him in the yes, causing him to stop his movements as he shut his eyes tight, grunting in pain and annoyance as he did. Taking advantage of that, Bellemere rolled backward up onto her feet, putting her back against the door to her house as she did. Not wasting any time, she fired the rifle once more, the bullet taking off toward Chu, hitting him in the arm despite the fact that he tried to dodge, yelping in pain just as Hachi did upon being injured. She then fired upon Kuroobi, the bullet nicking his leg as he dodged._

_That was the last shot Bellemere was able to fire unfortunately, as Arlong was in her face, his right webbed hand wrapped around her throat, as he proceeded to lift her several feet into the air before bringing her rushing back down, slamming her down hard onto her back, cracking her spine and causing her to scream out in pain, losing her grip on the rifle all the while. "NO MORE!"_

_He stomped on the rifle, smashing it into pieces, as he looked down at the red haired woman, his eyes full of rage. "YOU FUCKING HUMAN SCUM! HOW DARE YOU KILL MY BROTHERS!"_

* * *

_Nami and Nojiko were running as fast as they could toward their house, it well within sight, when Dr. Nako managed to get out in front of them, having been running after them for a bit, and caught them, keeping them from going any further. "Stop!"_

_"Doctor!" Nami protested, as she and Nojiko tried to get through._

_"You can't go back home!" He told them bluntly._

_"But we have to save Bellemere!" Nami insisted._

_"Nami, Nojiko, be quiet and listen to me." The aging man lifted his sunglasses so they could see in his eyes how serious he was. "There will be times, times in life like this moment now, when you have to learn the truth no matter how hard it is to take." Before he could finish, the sound of a scream being ripped from Bellemere's throat reached the young girl's ears. "Bellemere!" They shouted in concern, as they tried to get through Dr. Nako once more, to no avail._

* * *

_Bellemere lie on the ground, bloodied and bruised, her left arm almost completely black and blue with nasty looking bruises, as Arlong stomped on it again, breaking it completely in half, causing her to scream in pain louder than ever before. "Useless, foolish, stupid, empty, worthless, vile, filthy, selfish human scum! That's all you are!" The sawshark fishman shouted in rage, as he continously stomped on the thirty year old's arm._

_"Bellemere!" A voice called, drawing said woman's and all the fishmen's attention to none other than Genzo. "Don't throw away your life because you're a stubborn fool! There's no reason for this fight when it can be resolved with a simple exchange of money!" He yelled at her, as he began coming closer._

_"Oh no, not for this scum. She killed three of my brothers and wounded three others, she won't be walking with her life for all the money in the world!" Arlong exclaimed._

_"Please, I beg you, she's a foolish hot head with marine training, something like this was bound to happen with you dropping by so unexpectedly! I'll pay twice the amount for my own life every month, just spare her, please!"_

_Arlong didn't seem very pleased by the man's offer, but after a lot more begging and pleading, he turned back to look at his men to see what they thought. They seemed okay with that proposal, they might not like it, but they were okay with it. Looking back towards Genzo, he agreed. "Fine, but she still has to pay the hundred thousand berris for her own life."_

_Genzo came over to Bellemere and helped her to her feet, it was hard, but he managed to get her standing. "How much money do you have? You need two hundred thousand." He whispered to her._

_"Half, I've only got half of that." She whispered back._

_"Get the damn money already or you'll die anyway, I'm sick of looking at your disgusting face!" Arlong yelled._

_"Fine." Bellemere said, before entering her house. _

* * *

_"Listen, there's no way that the pirates will ever find out about you, you were never registered as Bellemere's children, nothing can link her to you. But you have to leave this island immediately and you can't ever look back, it's the only way for all three of you to survive, we can't afford it any other way. You're much too young to be at sea alone, but you've survived before. And if there's even a chance-" Dr Nako tried to convince them, before he was cut off by the younger of the two girls._

_"No, I don't want to! Why do we have to leave, they're the ones who came here! It's because we're poor, that's why we can't stay together. That isn't fair! Why does everyone care about money so much!? It's not worth more than peoples lives, so why do they act like it is!?" An image of Bluejam appeared in her mind as she said this. "__Why, why can't they just go away!?" Nami questioned, tears falling down her face._

_"Fine, we'll leave this island!" Nojiko gave in, as she turned and began marching away, tears streaming down her face as well._

_"Nojiko!" Nami called after her sister._

_"We have to leave or Bellemere will die!" The older girl threw back at her._

_Nami hesitated to follow, her thoughts racing, "Why...why does all this bad stuff keep happening!? Higuma, Bluejam, Arlong...why are there so many bad people in this world!? I...I wish Luffy was here to help us like he did with those other two bastards."_

_Nami then turned and followed after her older sister, knowing there was no use, as it was the only way to save their mother._

* * *

_Bellemere had given the fishmen the money and was watching as they walked away, clutching at her badly broken arm as she did. "They won't leave this island...they'll continued to suck it's inhabitants dry until they can no longer pay and then they'll kill them. And there's nowhere to run, as they won't so much as let a dinghy get out of here. It'll only be a matter of time before they find my girls and kill them. I can't let that happen."_

_"Wait, who said I was paying for me?" Bellemere called after them._

_Genzo's eyes widened to the max, his mouth hanging open slight, as he was just so shocked at what she had just done._

_The fishmen looked back to see what she was going on about, and as they did, she smirked, as she explained what she meant. "That money I gave up was for my two daughters, but I can't pay for myself."_

_"What are you doing!?" Genzo asked incredulously._

_"It's okay, I have to do this for my family. Even if it costs me my life." She said softly to him. "It's true that the three of us aren't related by blood, but we're family. All I ever really wanted...was to be their mother. And now...I can be." She said a little louder, her voice almost quivering as she did._

_Cries of 'Bellemere!' were heard as the red haired woman's daughters came racing around the house to the front of it, running straight into their mother's arms as they did, the woman crouching so that they could hug her properly. They were crying into her, gripping her tightly as if she would disappear at any moment. "Don't cry girls." She told them, as she forced her busted arm up in spite of the agony it caused her, so that she could hug both of them in return, tears running down her face now as well. "I wish I could've...I could have provided for you better. I wish I could've been a b-better mother to the both of you."_

_"Don't say that!" Nojiko cried._

_"We don't need anything, just don't die!" Nami pleaded._

_"Don't leave us, please!" Nojiko begged._

_"You need to see the map I'm going to draw of the whole world!" Nami told her, as if it would somehow help._

_"Yes, your map. Go and make your dreams come true, for me. And Luffy...you told me that you love him right?" She could remember it like yesterday, despite the fact that it felt like ages ago at that moment, though it had happened only a few months prior, after Nami had told Luffy she loved him, she had told Bellemere about it. It was supposed to be like a friend love or a family love, but the red head had a hunch it was much more than that, even if the children themselves didn't know it._

_Nami nodded, too choked up to speak._

_"Then when you find him...don't ever let him go. If being with him makes you happy, then I want you to stay with him forever."_

_"So these are your daughters." It was more of a statement than a question from the shark fishman, but Bellemere answered it anyways. "Yeah that's right. And you have to promise me that you'll leave them alone." Her eyes were fierce as she said this._

_"No problem, especially since I want to kill you so much anyway."_

_Nami couldn't take it anymore. "Somebody help us!" She screamed._

_Genzo let out a battle cry, as he produced two pistols and began to fire upon Arlong. Only Kuroobi intercepted the bullets, blocking them with the hard fin that extended from his arm, before giving the mustached man a good slash to the chest with the sword he was currently holding, knocking him to the ground and getting him to drop the guns._

_The sound of shouts of anger were heard then, as all of Cocoyashi village was seen running toward the scene. Arlong paid them one glance, before giving an order to his men. "Don't kill them boys, just teach them a lesson." Most of the fishmen nodded, before moving to intercept the villagers, beginning to beat them down as they did._

_"Now to set an example." Arlong said to no one in particular, as he stepped forward toward Bellemere. "And I'm going to enjoy doing it too." He commented unneededly. _

_Bellemere stood then, before shoving both of her daughters into the house, out of harms way._

_"You ready to die you filth?" Arlong inquired, as he brandished an extra long flintlock pistol he had hidden in his coat and aimed it dead at her chest, the barrel almost touching her._

_Once more, despite the pain, Bellemere forced her broken right arm up and crossed her arms, facing the fishman with no fear as she did. She purposely didn't answer his question, as his eyes bore into hers. "This man...this monster...he won't ever let this village go...he won't ever let my daughters go. My time is up, I can't save them now. It's up to you...Luffy, come and save my daughters, please."_

_"Nojiko, Nami!" She shouted, getting her daughters eyes on her, where she could meet them out the corner of her own. "Love you." And with that, the pistol was fired, the bullet hitting her flesh and ripping into it within less than a moment, bursting out the other side of her a moment later, falling to the ground once coming out of her back, blood beginning to run from the hole in her chest and back, as she fell back, collapsing on to the ground with an audible thud, dead before she even touched the ground._

_"BELLEMERE!" Both young girls cried at the top of their lungs._

_Arlong just began to laugh, finding it all so amusing. "While I'm in charge those without money will die! Now, do you understand me you worms!?" He asked to all the beaten villagers that lie on the ground around them, not even a single one still standing._

_"What's this?" Hachi asked to no one in particular, as he reached down to pull out the piece of paper in the now deceased Bellemere's back pants pocket. "A map?" He questioned, as he looked at it._

_"NO! That's my map, I drew it, you can't have it!" Nami cried._

_"A child drew this? Impressive." Arlong remarked, as he took a look at the map himself._

_"Give it back!" Nami tried again to get them to give the map back_

_"Hmm, very good. She could be useful, bring her with us." Arlong ordered._

_"Right." Hatchan said, as he obeyed, picking up Nami with one of his hands, it being big enough to cover her whole body but her head._

_"AHHHH! No! Help! Somebody help me!" Nami pleaded, as Nojiko hung on the back of Hachi by his clothes, trying to get him to stop. "Let her go! Let her go! Drop her, drop my little sister!"_

_Genzo had climbed to his feet, a sword stolen from the one of the fishmen clutched tightly in his left hand, as he blocked Arlong's path. __"Wait! You promised not to hurt her if you got your money!"_

_"Right. And I'll keep my word, I won't hurt her. I'll just borrow her for awhile."_

_"Genzo, help me!"_

_"I won't let you take her!" Genzo roared._

_"Kuroobi." Arlong said, letting him know to take care of this. Pivoting forward, Kuroobi delivered several slashes to Genzo, cutting him up real good with the the sword he was holding._

_Blood spurt from all the slash marks, as Genzo's grip on the sword faltered and he dropped it, he himself dropping to the ground along with it._

_"Genzo! Genzo, Genzo, Genzo!" Nami repeated over and over again in fear._

_Genzo forced himself back up on his feet then, his body fighting him every step of the way, the man not even having enough strength left to stand up fully. "I'll...I'll save you Nami." He managed to rasp out through all the pain, the blood running down his face and the rest of his body making him look like he was half dead, which he technically was. "I won't let you go."_

_"No, please! It's okay, you don't need to save me!" Nami cried, not wanting him to die trying to save her._

_Nojiko couldn't hold onto Hatchan any longer, falling off and on to the ground, fighting back sobs strong enough to shake her entire body as she did._

_"I will...save you Nami...I will..." Genzo rasped out once more._

_"Enough of this!" Kuroobi finally said, before pulling his sword back and ramming the butt of it into the side of Genzo's head, knocking him unconscious and causing him to collapse onto the ground._

_"PLEASE, NO MORE KILLING!" Nami screamed at the top of her lungs._

* * *

"I'm sure you guys can figure out the rest." Nami stated, fighting back tears as she was forced to relive those horrible memories.

Nojiko too had a tear or two in her eye, but she wouldn't let them fall.

Sanji's eyes were wide and his face was almost like it was dumbstruck, completely unsure of what to say at this point.

Zoro wore a deep scowl with hard eyes to match, he was quite angry, that was for sure.

Usopp was speechless, his eyes on the ground, completely unsure of what to say.

Johnny and Yosaku were on all fours balling their eyes out.

And Luffy, his hat was down, overshadowing his face, keeping his emotions from being seen. He moved forward, walking without saying a word, coming to a stop before Bellemere's grave. That was when he raised the rim of his hat, revealing that he too was crying, his fists clenched dangerously tight. "I'm sorry Bellemere...I'm sorry I couldn't save you. Forgive me...Mother." He removed his hat and placed it on her cross then, as he sat down seiza and mourned her death.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

Again, no one say anything about the flashbacks having parts in them that the people who are having them didn't experience. The anime is guilty of that as well. Thank you.


	25. The Broken Promise and Nami's Tears

Sage-of-forbidden-arts: That's okay. I'd love to see more reviews from you, but work is important, so I completely understand. As for the chapters coming out quickly, well I've just been in a hardcore One Piece mood lately, so I've been playing Pirate Warriors 3 and writing more chapters for this story. Thank you, I'm glad you liked my latest chapters. Okay, good. You liked the kissing scene huh? That's good, I was a little worried people wouldn't like it. And I do look forward to more of this story, as I love writing it, and I love all you guys too, cause you're awesome. :)

pipi96: Arlong's going to pay, that is for sure. As for Nojiko joining the crew, well...you'll have to wait and see. But I'll tell you this, counting Nami and Robin, I plan on having three females on the Straw Hat crew.

Johnny Spectre: Well that's true, One Piece can certainly be unpredictable. I'm not into Bleach, so I wouldn't know anything about that. As for Luffy awakening his haki again...well...you'll just have to wait and see, now won't you? Very good prediction regardless though.

F-ckthesystem125: I know, sad flashbacks just really get to you, especially ones about the crew. I am also glad some of the fishmen from Arlong's crew are gone, the damn bastards. I intend to.

Ranger Station Charlie: I know right? Oh definitely. I'm glad Nami is back to normal as well.

Chop2NV: Why thank you! And yeah, there wasn't any point in dragging their reunion out into another chapter. Yeah, I liked the way the chapter ended as well. Beyond furious? That's an understatement! XD

GTI: No problem. You are quite welcome! I am more than glad to share my imagination with you guys! Well I'm happy you didn't give up on my story then. And as for the coming changes, I hope they meet yours and everyone else's expectations. Yeah...sorry about that. Believe me I didn't want her to die either, but I felt it was necessary for the story. You have every right to be angry with me and Garp for this, so I don't blame you. As for the chapter, glad you liked it and yeah, Luffy can be very scary when angry. I really do like your opinion on Robin, and will, like I said before, probably keep her unpaired for this story, as that's what is beginning to feel right to me.

You're excited for my harem story? Well there's going to be a few of them, different premises, different girls. Nami and Robin will always be a part of the harem though, they're just Luffy's girls as far as I'm concerned, especially Nami. I was actually thinking of beginning work on one of the harem stories soon. I have three of them in mind. One involves Luffy being raised by Whitebeard, another involves traumatic events that lead Luffy to becoming a much darker person, and then there's the one that involves slavery and Boa Hancock. Which one do you think I should start working on?

As for what Luffy will yell when the battle with Arlong is over, I'm still undecided on the matter. I can understand wanting to see more of Vivi, she's a cool character. But no, she won't be joining the crew in this story, I'm sorry. As for the new member of the crew, there are actually two of them. One is male, the other is female. One will join pre timeskip, the other will join post timeskip. As for how big of roles they played in Cannon? Well they had decent sized roles, not too important, but not too unimportant either. No problem, just glad to have you around.

FallenAlgon: Huh, I didn't think about that until just now, good point. As for the chapter, I'm glad you liked it. And thank you, I always do my best to keep everyone in character, with little tweaks to said character because of the different way they grew up.

Darkangel665: I'm really glad you liked it. And I have to agree, the Arlong Arc is when I was like, 'Oh yeah, this is gonna be one of my animes.'. It's not the only arc I'll watch multiple times though. There are several I enjoy very much and wouldn't mind watching again and again, cause they're just so awesome.

Now then, the third chapter of the Arlong arc is here! Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Nami would have been completely racked with guilt and self loathing at the current point in time, as she had just finished stealing from everyone in Cocoyashi village, looting any and all berris in their possession, but she didn't. This was because she had been able to scrape together two million berris from the broke village, which combined with the ninety eight million she already had in her possession formed the hundred million she so desperately needed to free the village and herself. In spite of the circumstances, she couldn't help but smile real wide, as she made her way back to her house. "It's about to be over, this eight year long nightmare is about to be over. All I have to do is give him the berris and treasure I've collected, and it'll all be done. He'll leave and everyone will be safe. And...I'll finally be able to set sail with Luffy, as his navigator."

* * *

"What are we gonna do Arlong? Nami said she'd have the money to pay you today!" One of the fishmen told their captain worriedly.

"Oh no! You can't let her go Boss!" Another fishman said.

"Yeah, what about the maps and charts she draws for us!? We can't find anyone better than her!" A third fishman added, sounding frantic as he did.

"It would be a very bad move to let someone like her go." Chu put forth, much more calmly than the other fishmen.

"I don't like the conniving woman, but she is quite valuable." Kuroobi admitted.

Hatchan opened his mouth to protest Arlong letting Nami go as well, but then a certain memory replayed itself in his mind...

* * *

_An eight year old Nami sat in the corner of the bottom floor of Arlong park, her knees pulled to her chest as she cried her eyes out, her head down so she didn't have to see this place._

_Hatchan had been sent to retrieve her, which was why he was the only one in the room at the moment, just entering a moment ago. "Little girl..." He tried to remember her name, as he never liked it when he wasn't called by his name. It took a moment or so, but he managed to remember it. "Nami..."_

_The little girl raised her head, allowing the octopus man to see the ugly bruise on her face, courtesy of Arlong, as well as her teary and fear filled eyes. "Please...please don't hurt me." She whimpered._

_Hatchan felt weird when she said that, he wasn't sure what it meant, all he knew was that he didn't like it. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." He told her, as he made his way toward her._

_Despite what he said, she curled tighter into herself as he approached, her sobs growing louder as he did. "Why are you so sad?" Hatchan asked her simply._

_If he had asked her at any other time, she would have been offended, as she was sure he knew damn well why she was sad. But, so fearful and unsure, she answered him. "I don't wanna be here...I hate it. He marked me with this tattoo as if it was a brand. It's like I'm his slave, his property. I-I-I-I-" She tried to keep going, but her sobs were coming too fast, and were too hard, causing her body to shake and her words to become unintelligible._

_As those words left her mouth, Hatchan felt like he was physically struck. "Slave...property..." Tears began to well up in his eyes then as well._

_He closed the distance between them, knelt down so they were eye level, and spoke, "No one should feel like that. That tattoo is supposed to be something to be proud of, not something to hate and feel sad about. I'm sorry that you feel that way."_

_She met his eyes, still crying, as she responded. "H-he said i-t to-too. They all say i-it. They act l-like I'm a p-pet. I h-ha-hate it here. I w-wan-wanna g-go ho-home!" _

_Hatchan's tears began to fall then as well. "You're not a pet to Hachi. I want to be your friend."_

_That didn't seem to make the young girl feel any better, as she continued to cry._

_"Hachi...is sorry." He whispered beneath his breath._

* * *

After remembering that, Hatchan's protest died in his throat, as he didn't want Nami to be sad anymore.

"I know, but what can I do boys? After all, I never break a promise when it comes to money." Even as Arlong said this, shrugging his shoulders as he did, a sinister smirk crossed his face.

All the other fishmen didn't know what their captain had up his sleeve, but that smirk told them all they needed to know. All of them smiled in return, including Kuroobi and Chu, Hatchan however couldn't help but frown.

* * *

The entirety of Cocoyashi village was gathered at the docks, as a marine vessel had just dropped anchor there. Thirteen marines deboarded the ship, one leading the other twelve.

The man leading the others had somewhat pale skin, a brown patch on his chin and literal whiskers growing out of his face. He wore a greyish blue button up coat that went down to his feet, with a black belt and blue shoulder pads. He also wore a marine cap with rat ears attached to it.

Once off the boat, they were approached by Genzo. "Marines? Why are you here?"

"We're here for the one called Nami." The whiskered marine told him.

"Nami? Why?" The pinwheel wearing man asked.

"Please, take us to her." The highest ranking marine of the group said, ignoring the man's question.

Frowning, the scarred man did as the marine asked, knowing it wouldn't be good if he went and interrogated him.

As he led them through the village, all of the residents stared at them, wondering what was going on.

"So what do the marines want with Nami?" Genzo inquired, hoping he would get an answer this time.

"Your job is to lead the way, quietly I might add." The whiskered marine told him.

Genzo got the hint and shut his mouth, his frown deepening as he did.

* * *

Nami was just preparing to leave her house to get Arlong and bring him to the hundred million berris she had gathered, but was stopped in her tracks once she stepped outside, as there was thirteen marines plus Genzo heading her way. "Marines? And what's Genzo doing with them?"

They stopped a few feet from her, as the highest ranking of the bunch snickered for some unknown reason. "Are you the pirate thief known as Nami?"

"What if I am?" She questioned.

"Then I would wish to speak with you." He answered.

"Care to introduce yourself first?" Nami questioned, a bit of attitude present in her tone.

He snickered again at that. "As you wish. I am Marine Captain Nezumi of the sixteenth branch."

"And, what do you want with me?"

That seemed to be enough of an answer to whether she was Nami or not to him. "Marine sources have revealed that you have quite a large sum of treasure that you've stolen from pirates. The government hereby confiscates all said property. It is required that you comply immediately."

Nami's eyes widened a bit at that. "No way..."

Snickering once more, the man spoke again. "Sorry, perhaps you didn't hear me the first time. The government hereby confiscates everything you've stolen, it is required that you comply immediately, do you understand?"

Nami's eyes returned to normal, as a false cocky smirk crossed her face, as she knew how to deal with this. "Isn't that something? You won't bring a brutal gang of pirates to justice, but you will shake down a lowly sneak thief. That's so very noble. You must be very passionate about your duties." She stated mockingly. That didn't seem to bother him, so she tried another route. "I'm only gonna warn you once, I'm one of the leaders of the Arlong Pirates. If you mess with me, Arlong won't sit by quietly."

Snickering for the fourth time since he had arrived, Nezumi replied. "Silly girl, who do you think I am? Do you honestly think you can intimidate me?" He asked her. After a moment and no answer, he threw his arm out, gesturing to the immediate area, as he barked an order at his men. "Find the stolen goods!"

As the dozen marines he brought with him began moving about the area, looking for said stolen goods, Nami barked at them as well, "Don't move!", as if they would heed her order. They of course didn't. "Stop!" She yelled at them. Once more they didn't listen.

Seeing as they weren't listening, she pulled the three pieces of her special wooden staff out of her shirt, where she had been hiding them, quickly assembled the thing, and proceeded to knock two of the marines out cold, socking one in the gut with one end of the staff and whacking another upside the head. "I said stop!"

As those two hit the ground, unconscious, Nami turned around and stomped toward Nezumi. "Do you really think this is what the Marines should be doing right now!? The Arlong Pirates are murderers! They've destroyed entire cities and you're doing nothing! He's ruling over this island and trampling over peoples lives! You'd ignore Arlong's atrocities to steal from a thief, is that what you stand for!?"

Nezumi snickered his mouse like snicker once again at that. "Big talk from a filthy criminal. Continue the search men." He told his men, so they wouldn't stop looking.

"Every person on this island has been waiting for the Marines to come and help them for years! How dare you pass them by and come here searching for money!" Nami shouted at the marine captain.

"Captain, this tangerine orchard seems a little suspicious." One marine reported.

"Dig it up, the whole thing if need be." Nezumi told him.

"Yes Sir." The marine grabbed a shovel, several of his fellows doing the same.

"Keep your filthy hands off of Bellemere's tangerine orchard!" Nami cried, as she turned and rushed the same marine who had said something about the orchard in the first place, attacking him with her bo staff from behind, knocking him to the ground, unconscious like his two friends before him.

Seeing two more stick their shovels into the ground, she charged them, hitting one over the back of the head and slamming the length of the staff into the other's gut, before bringing it up and clocking him in the jaw with it. This got the both of them on the ground and out cold, bringing the total of marines that are unconscious to five.

Turning she dashed forward, trying to get to some more of the marines, shouting as she did, "I won't let you take my money! That money's for...it's for..."

Genzo couldn't take it anymore, crying out in anger because of not being able to take anymore. "That poor girl's money is meant to save Cocoyashi Village! What gives you the right to take our salvation away from her!? Damn you!"

"My my, a mere village representative talking down to a marine captain, how bold." Nezumi remarked.

Nami turned to Genzo though, shocked at that he just said, it written all over her face. "Genzo...how'd you know about that?"

"I've always known Nami."

Her eyes widened at that, "What?"

"I couldn't believe what you had done. To join Arlong's crew after what he did for just for a bunch of money? It didn't make any sense. So I confronted Nojiko about it later. Since then, everyone has known that you stayed with the Arlong Pirates so that you could save the village. But we all agreed we'd never tell you that we knew, because if you ever thought the villages were placing their hopes on you, we knew you would never leave his gang for fear of letting us down."

"That can't be..." Nami said aloud, more to herself than anyone else.

"Now hold on a minute, just what are you trying to say here? Are you telling me that the villagers are thieves and that we should arrest every one of them? Is that what you're saying?" Nezumi questioned, even though he knew damn well that wasn't what the mustached man meant at all.

"What he's saying is that every last one of us is fighting to survive! We have to fend for ourselves because we can't rely on support from you government people! So, if you're not going to protect our village, then get the hell out of here! And be quick about it, or Arlong'll sink your ship too!" Nojiko told the captain angrily, as he approached the scene from behind.

"Arlong will? I wouldn't be so sure." Nezumi said confidently, looking back at the blue haired young woman as he did. After a moment, he looked back to his men, who were still looking for the treasure. "You still haven't found it?" He asked his men, his annoyance clear. "We're looking for a hundred million berris here, not a grain of rice!"

Genzo eyes widened at that, as what were the odds of them knowing the exact amount? "Hey you, how do you know how much there is?"

Nezumi's eyes went to the scarred man then, "Well, I don't know. I just have a hunch that that's the amount we're looking for." He smiled smugly then, after snickering for the umpteenth time.

Nami's eyes widened considerably at that, her breathing picking up pace a little bit, the same with her heart beat. "There's no way they could know that...no way unless..."

'Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!' As Arlong's laugh echoed in her head, Nami could only mutter, "It's him." Her grip on her staff tightening as she clenched her free hand into a fist, she spoke up, "Tell me, it was Arlong that sent you wasn't it!?"

"Course not, I wouldn't do a pirate's dirty work, that'd be wrong. I'm just a public servant dealing with theft the way any government worker would." He answered, his smug smile widening as he did.

"You corrupt marine scumbag!" Genzo spat.

"The Marines have stooped to being nothing but pirate cronies!" Nojiko shouted.

Nami bit her bottom lip hard, as she tried to keep from screaming, her anger turning into rage as she realized Arlong had betrayed her without a doubt.

"Sir, I found it!" One of the marine flunkies called.

"Good, good, now take me to it." He ordered.

Nami, Nojiko and Genzo could only watch, eyes wide, as the man went to the spot that had been dug up, to where a large coffin like box lie. Removing the lid revealed on the treasure and berris inside, most of which was stained in blood. Nezumi laughed rather than snickered at the sight of it. "Incredible, I must say I'm impressed you've managed to gather this much treasure." The rat like man said, as if Nami would care for a compliment from him.

"The money's all ragged and bloody." One marine commented.

"No matter, money's money." Nezumi told the marine, before snickering his rat like snicker. "Thirty percent of this is all mine." He thought to himself.

"Don't touch that." Nami commanded them. "Don't touch that." No response, so she began moving toward them. "Don't touch that." She repeated, though it didn't matter. "Stop it, don't touch that." Nezumi just grinned his nasty grin at her, not obeying her command in the slightest. "STOP IT!" She cried, beginning to dash towards the man as she did.

"Nami!" Nojiko and Genzo quickly rushed after her, until they managed to get where the latter could grab her by her wrist, and the former could get out in front of her, grabbing her by the shoulder as she did to try and make her stop. At the same time, Nezumi had drawn a flintlock pistol, which he aimed directly at them with and proceeded to fire a single round.

With her back to it, Nojiko didn't even see it coming, as the bullet hit her and tore through her flesh, coming out of her front side only a moment later, falling to the ground as it did. She gasped, as blood began to flow from the hole in her shoulder, before she fell to the ground, passing out from shock.

Nami, no longer fighting Genzo, dropped to her knees, no breath to be found in her lungs as she did. "N-No-N..." Suddenly she could breathe again, as she cried out, "NOJIKO!"

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku were all in Cocoyashi village, more specifically inside the clinic there, as Dr. Nako looked them all over. When he had seen the shape Sanji was in, most of his ribs being broken and all, he demanded they all come in for a check up the next day, so here they were.

Luffy was fine, as when the doctor took the bandages off his hands, they were already healed, since he could move nutrients to whatever part of his body that he needed them most at and all.

Zoro wasn't wearing any bandages and had no scars, so he was fine as well.

Johnny and Yosaku were warned a little, as they had a few mild cuts from their fight back on the Baratie that they hadn't gotten treated until now.

Usopp's wounds from back when he confronted Kuro were almost completely healed by now, the teen no longer even able to feel any pain from them. And according to the doctor, once they finished healing, there would be no scars left on his body, which the long nosed man was thankful for.

Sanji was reexamined, to see that he was already in a decent deal of better shape than he was the day before, healing faster than the normal human, though not fast enough to be qualified as inhuman.

"Alright, you're free to go."

"Thanks." They all said, as they exited the clinic, only to almost get rammed into by Nami, who came sprinting past them like a madwoman.

"Nami?" Luffy questioned, wondering if he had seen right, as he could have sworn he had seen a look of rage mixed with fear mixed with sorrow.

"What is that damn woman doing?" Zoro asked, not attempting hide his annoyance as he did.

"Wonder where she's running off to." Usopp said aloud.

"Do you guys think something might have happened?" Yosaku and Johnny asked together.

"Oh Nami, wait for me my dear!" Sanji called after her, his eyes changing into hearts as he did, preparing to run after her all the while, before Luffy grabbed him by the back of the collar and stopped him.

"Doctor, Doctor Nako!" Genzo shouted, as he carried a bleeding Nojiko bridal style into town.

Just as Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku rushed over, Doctor Nako came running out as well. "What is it, what happened!?"

"Nojiko's been shot!"

All the other villagers began to crowd around then.

"By who!?" Usopp asked, as Nako began to treat her.

"The Marines!" Genzo spat.

"I-I...I'm...alright." Nojiko tried to reassure them, though she couldn't even look them in the eye as she did.

"What, why would the Marines shoot Nojiko!?" Johnny questioned.

"She isn't a pirate, there's no reason for them to shoot her!" Yosaku pointed out.

"Arlong has been working with those damn marines." Genzo told them darkly.

"What!?" Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku and Nako all questioned disbelievingly.

"He's been lying to Nami for the last eight years, he never intended to honor their agreement at all." Genzo informed them.

Gasps were heard from most of the villagers at that, several of them muttering about how sorry they felt for Nami, uttering sympathies and angry remarks about Arlong.

"That..that sunuva bitch!" Both Johnny and Yosaku cried. "How dare he do that to our Big Sis!" And then, without warning, they took off in the direction of Arlong Park.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Usoop asked the doctor.

"Thankfully she was hit in the shoulder and not the chest, but if we're not careful, she could still die." He explained.

Usopp gulped nervously at that.

Zoro wore a scowl on his face, while Sanji looked worried for the blue haired woman.

Luffy...Luffy's face was blank.

* * *

As Nami sprinted toward Arlong Park, she felt her control slipping, she could only hold it together so long, this was growing to be too much. "Arlong! Arlong! Arlong, Arlong, Arlong! ARLONG!" She continuously shouted as she ran, memories playing in her head as she did...

* * *

_Eight Years Ago..._

_Arlong sat in his chair, drinking some kind of alcohol from a glass, when he noticed the newest member of his crew standing a few feet away, staring at him, a mix of emotions in her eyes. "What's wrong little girl?"_

_She didn't answer, didn't move, she didn't even blink. She almost looked dead, except for the very slight expression on her face._

_"I bet it's the village, you want it left alone, don't you?" She slightly nodded her head at that._

_"Then how about this, let's make an agreement okay?" He offered._

_"An agreement?" She inquired, her eyes not flickering nor her face changing it's expression._

_"That's right. Gather up one hundred million berris and then bring it to me, do so and I will let your village go, in addition to giving your freedom." He told her._

_"Promise?" She asked, still not showing any kind of signs of movement._

_"I promise. And I'm the kind of fishman who would rather die than break an agreement concerning money. And I don't even care how long it takes you, I will honor our agreement." He swore to her._

* * *

_Seven Years Ago..._

_Nami sat and watched as Arlong talked with the captain of the pirate crew that had come to the Conomi islands to plunder whatever they could from the villages. Upon arrival though, the sawshark fishman had let him know this was his domain, and the captain, not being an idiot, agreed to the talks the he had proposed. Which was why they sat in Arlong Park, drinking and conversing. As the captains of the two crews did that, their crew lounged about, waiting for both sides to finish._

_The pirate captain's crew was talkative, speaking about the treasure they had looted from the previous island they had visited, which was loaded on their ship and completely unguarded at the moment. They also wondered aloud to one and other how much of the take their captain could persuade the shark man to give them, but that didn't matter to the young girl, as all she could focus on was the first thing they said. "Their ship has treasure on it and they left it completely unguarded..."_

_Getting to her feet, she wandered around for a minute or so, before slipping out of Arlong Park and taking off toward the docks, where the pirates ship was anchored at. The villagers stared at her as she passed them, before getting to the pirates ship and beginning to scale it, it taking a minute or so, but was manageable since the rope for their anchor was so thick, allowing her to climb up it._

_Once on deck, she looked around, before heading down into the ship, going from room to room searching for it. Only problem is, even after a good fifteen minutes, she couldn't find anything, not even a single berri. "Where would they keep their treasure?" She asked herself, slowly becoming frantic, as they could be back any minute._

_Throwing caution to the wind, she began to tear the inside of the ship apart, throwing everything that wasn't valuable that she got her hands on, as she went from room to room again, looking for that treasure they had spoken of. With this method, when she reached that captain's cabin, she soon found herself a big sack of treasure. Opening it and looking inside, she saw a whole bunch of gold doubloons. "I don't know how much this is, but I'll find that out later. Now I just need to get it to my house."_

_With that she dragged it up onto the deck, before throwing it off the ship onto the dock. As she prepared to climb down however, she noticed the pirates who owned the very same ship she was on were running her way, looking scared and angry. Moving faster, she managed to get halfway down the ship, when they all began to climb on board, yelling at each other that they had get out of here and never come back, and that if they didn't do so in the next two minutes, Arlong would kill them._

_Not even bothering to notice her, they knocked her off as the last of them finished climbing up, quickly raising anchor and setting sail, intent on getting away from here and never coming back._

_Hitting the deck after a ten foot drop hurt yes, but Nami managed to keep her cry of pain to herself, as she forced herself to her feet. Looking over to see the bag of treasure, she grabbed ahold of it and began to drag it back to her house._

* * *

_Four Years Ago..._

_Nami sat in a tavern, a very rowdy tavern, in a village near the end of the Conomi Islands, where a group of pirates who had finally managed to work out a deal with Arlong were partying it up. They were throwing back mugs of booze like it was water, as they tried to get into every girl that was there pants, while also fighting amongst themselves about some kind of bet or something along those lines. Their captain was the worst, as he kept firing off a pistol whenever he wanted something done, most likely only doing so because he was so drunk. He was an average looking man, with dirty hair and swashbuckler clothing. He was awfully full of himself as well, quite proud of his five million berri bounty._

_Nami didn't care for any of it, all she was doing here was waiting for the opportune moment to sneak out and steal all the treasure they had on their ship, the men having just been bragging about the fact that it was full of treasure a few minutes ago._

_Another ten minutes and she slipped out, heading for the docks. She found their ship easily enough, scaling it and climbing aboard, taking a quick look around above deck to make sure no one was there, before heading down into the ship. She searched just about every room, but all she was able to find was a single treasure chest full of gold doubloons. Nothing special, but it would do. "Damn pirates and their bravado and lies." She said to herself, as she forced her arms to lift the chest off the floor into her grasp._

_Once she was sure she had a good hold on it, she went up top to the deck, crossing it to where she could drop the chest onto the docks. With that done, she climbed down herself, before opening the chest once more, just to assure herself that the gold wasn't fake, as if they had been lying about it being full of treasure, maybe they had been lying about having any at all. Once she was sure it was real, she moved to close the lid, when she realized she saw something under some of the doubloons. Moving some of them, she found a sack. "Well, this would make hauling it easier."_

_With that she began shoving fistfuls of the doubloons into the sack, until it was bloated and the chest was empty. "There we go, this makes getting away much easier."_

_"Is that so?" _

_The twelve year old's eyes shot to who said that, to see an angry, drunk pirate captain, and a bunch of angry, drunk pirates behind him. "Oh crap." She squeaked, before turning and bolting in the opposite direction. "Get her!" The captain ordered, as he and his entire crew began chasing her. There was no need to though, as when she turned a corner, the last of the man's crew was there waiting, and before she could turn around, they grabbed her, throwing her to the ground, the sack landing a few feet to her right._

_She tried to get up, but was met with a boot to the gut, knocking her back to the ground, as well as knocking the wind out of her, causing a small coughing fit. "We got her boss!"_

_By the time the coughing fit ceased, the captain and the rest of the men had caught up. "Good, now let's teach the little thief a lesson."_

_With that he clocked her in the face with a right hook, as she had been trying to stand up and had gotten to her knees. Hitting the ground once more, there was now blood dribbling down the left corner of her mouth, in spite of that and the pain from the blows, she didn't let her pain be known, as she tried to get to her feet once more._

_Not deterred by her seeming lack of pain, the captain gave a good jab to the gut, causing her to yelp in pain, as she hit the ground once more. And once her pain had been vocalized,__ it was like blood in the water, as the rest of the crew began to beat on her as well, laughing as they got her to shout, yell and cry in pain._

_This continued for a good five minutes, the villagers taking notice at this point. As one of them came to intervene, he was shoved back by the pirates, said pirates beginning to shout as they pushed the man, causing most of the to look over to see what was going on. Seeing that as her chance, she forced herself to her feet, grabbed the sack of treasure and took off. "Hey!" One of them called after her, just barely missing her as they tried to grab her by the wrist._

_"The girl's getting away!"_

_"After her then!"_

_The bloodied and bruised twelve year old, who had a busted forehead and busted the back of her head, a bloody nose, half a mouthful of blood from having a few teeth knocked out, her arms, legs and face covered in purple bruises, continued to run as fast as she could, in spite of all the pain she was in. She had to get away from those pirates, or they would kill her, there was no doubt about that._

_They chased her out of the town into a forest, running after her without stop, wanting their treasure back and to make her pay. This chase lasted for a good few minutes, before they came to the land gate of Arlong Park, where she just managed to pass through it before she tripped and hit the ground, the pirates nearly piling on top of her as she did._

_"What is the meaning of this!?" Arlong growled._

_"This little bitch stole our treasure, we're simply teaching her a lesson."_

_Arlong's scowl deepened at that. "I will not allow you to harm my map maker. She is my property, you will not so much as look at her without my permission!"_

_"Look we've got ourselves a nice little agreement, let's not ruin it. Just allow me to deal out the punishment for stealing our treasure to this brat, and then all will be good."_

_"You dare to act as if I owe you something!?" Arlong shouted, getting his fishmen brethren to come outside to see what was going on._

_One of the pirates then pulled a knife, moving towards Nami as he did._

_That's when Arlong let loose and he and his men killed all of them within a matter of a minute._

_"And you, you damn girl! Don't you go ruining any more of my business deals, or else I'll destroy that little village of yours while I make you watch!" Nami, who was still on the ground, looked up at Arlong then as he said this to her, her eyes half lidded, when his foot rammed into her face, knocking her unconscious._

* * *

_One Year Ago..._

_Nami sighed, as she drifted on a small sail boat big enough for three, the other two seats taken up by a very large chest of treasure. "I just had to get caught didn't I? Now I'll be stuck on this little thing for the next few hours."_

_She looked up into the sky then, watching as the clouds drifted, her course set so she didn't have to worry, unless the wind suddenly changed that is. Though that wasn't going to happen, so there wasn't any problems._

_She continued to stare up into the sky, as her mind wandered and her thoughts drifted just like the clouds. Eventually, her mind found her favorite thing to think about, a certain straw hat boy. "I wonder what he looks like now? It's been seven years since I last saw him. I wonder if he's changed at all? I never got to write him, after all, when his first letter arrived and Arlong found out about it, he killed the bird that delivered the damn thing. I'm pretty sure that was the bird Fusha uses for messages, he probably doesn't even have a way to keep in contact with Zoro anymore."_

_A frown marred her face then. "Which means he's all alone again. Ace said he was leaving at seventeen, so Luffy's been without anyone to keep him company for a whole year now. I hope it's not hurting him too much."_

_Sighing once more, she spoke aloud to herself, "I wanna see him so badly. It sucks being love struck."_

_Her eyes caught the treasure chest then, the fifteen year old opening it to check on all the treasure inside, quite happy with the amount. "This is easily ten million berris, if not more. If I keep going at this rate, I can free Cocoyashi in a little over a year." She managed a small smile then. "Just wait for me a little longer Luffy, and then I'll be free._

* * *

"It was all a lie! All a fucking lie!" Nami shouted, as she closed in on Arlong Park.

Running inside, she called that bastards name. "Arlong!"

Arlong, Hatchan, Kuroobi and Chew all looked over at Nami then, as she stomped toward them. "Hmm? What seems to be the problem, oh skilled surveyor of ours, why the sour face?" Arlong inquired.

"Those marine maggots you keep on the pay roll stole every last berri I had!" She told him, coming right up to him and grabbing both sides of his his shirt as she pulled on it, her rage clear. "What happened to all that crap about dying before you'd ever break a promise when it comes to money!? Huh you bastard!?"

"Refresh my memory, how did I break that promise?" Arlong asked.

"Don't play dumb with me, I know that you teamed up with the Marines to-" She was cut off, as Arlong grabbed her by the face, not bothering to lift her up as he did, just making it to where she had no hope of saying anything else. "Just when did I break that promise? Speak up girl."

She couldn't of course, and Arlong and all his fishmen brethren, with the exception of Hatchan, began to laugh.

"Damn you! Damn you! DAMN YOU!" She cursed him in her head, fighting back tears as she did, her hands still on his wrist, trying to pull his hand away from her face.

"Too bad all your stolen money got stolen, that certainly is unfortunate. But a deal is a deal Nami. If you can't come up with one hundred million berris then both you and your village stay in my possession indefinitely. Well, you know the terms."

She managed to force her head up then, where her mouth was no longer covered by his hand, so she could curse at him. "You goddamn bastard!"

"Ahahahahahahahahah! It's only one hundred million berris, start saving again and you'll have it in no time!" He told her, full of messed up mirth.

His smile shrank a little, as he spoke again. "Or are you gonna run out on me?" He let her face go and grabbed her by her shirt then, so they could be eye to eye as he looked at her and continued speaking. "Listen, if you do that I'll kill everyone in that village, do you understand me? I'll even track down that little punk who sent you that letter and kill him too."

Nami smacked his hand away from her shirt then, the shark fishman allowing her to do so, before she turned and bolted out of Arlong Park. "Aw, running away so soon? Ahahahahahahahaha!

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp stood to the side as Genzo rallied all the villagers, including the now bandaged up Nojiko, all of whom were carrying weapons.

"Eight long years ago we promised we wouldn't live our lives in vain! No matter the pain or humiliation we endured under Arlong, we swore to fight the long fight so Nami could meet their demand! But they lied! They never intended to keep their end of the deal, instead they stole our only chance at freedom! So now, we should make those filthy fishmen pay for all the years they manipulated that kind young girl, am I right!?"

"Yeah, let's do this!"

"We were always ready to fight those monsters!"

"Let's get'em!"

"Time to show those lousy stinking fishmen what we're made of!"

"YEAH!"

"Everybody wait!" Nami shouted, as she came running into the village, slowing to a walk as everyone turned towards her. "Heh heh heh, calm down, it's not that much money, I can make it back in no time, I'll take care of it, don't worry. It'll be easy this time, I'm used to it, I'll be fine, just relax, everything is okay. Hey it's nothing compared to back then ya know? Come on everyone, I'm perfectly fine." She told them all, a false smile on her face as she did, trying so hard to get them to calm down.

"Zoro, Sanji, Usopp...wait outside the village." Luffy told them, all three of them nodding their heads and walking out of the area, passing by Nami as they did.

Before she could turn and convince them not to go anywhere either, Genzo stepped forward and pulled her into a one armed hug. "You've done enough, you have to know that there is no point now. You've struggled so hard carrying our lives on your back this whole time. I can only imagine that joining them must have been more painful than being stabbed through the heart. You fought very well."

"G-Genzo."

He let go of her then, taking a step back as he did. "Set yourself free from this village. Go and sail with your friends and forget about this place."

Nami looked pain stricken as he said that. "I-I-"

"Nami, do it!" Nojiko encouraged.

"No, I won't do it, I won't abandon you! I won't let you go!" She brandished a knife then, pointing it out towards Genzo as she did. "Just stay right htere! I'm not gonna let anyone else get hurt by these monster!" She told them vehemently. Taking a few shaky breaths in, as she continued to try and fight back tears, she then simply said, "You'll all die."

"We know that." Genzo stated, grabbing ahold of the blade of her knife as he did, gripping it so tight it caused his palm to begin to bleed.

"Nami, it's no use, we've made up our minds." Doctor Nako told the young girl.

"Get out of here and never come back!" Genzo shouted at her, before letting gof of the knife and turning to face everyone else. He unsheated the sword he carried, lifting it up the sky, as he commanded the rest of the villagers, "Move out!"

"We may not win, but we will give'em hell!" Nako proclaimed.

All the villagers cried their agreements, as every single one of them raced past Nami toward the direction of Arlong Park.

Once the entire angry mob had past by her, her grip on the knife slackened and it fell to the ground, as she followed after, collapsing to her knees, her eyes as wide as can be, her tears finally coming out and streaming down her face. "It was all for nothing...everything I did...all the pain...the anger...the shame...the sacrifice...it was all in vain. I'm right back where I started eight years ago." She muttered to herself, her voice so low she could barely even hear herself.

That's when Arlong's sick laughter rang through her head. "Ahahahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Her facial expression and eyes a mix of pain, rage and sorrow, Nami turned her head so she could see the tattoo of the Arlong Pirates jolly roger that was on her left arm, before grabbing at the flesh where it reside, clawing at it, looking ready to rip her skin off if it meant making it go away. That's when she remembered the knife.

Taking her hand off her arm, she snatched up the knife and wasted no time in proceeding to bury it to the hilt in the flesh of her arm where the mark, her brand sat at. "Arlong!" She yanked the knife out, blood flowing from the wound down her arm, thinning down to a trickle by the time it reached her bandaged hand, and sunk the blade back into her arm once more. "Arlong!" Ripping it out of her flesh once again, a bit of blood splattering onto the ground, she went on to stab herself again and again, over and over. Screaming at the top of her lungs as she did, "ARLONG! ARLONG! ARLONG! ARLONG!"

The next time she pulled the blade from her flesh however, a hand caught her by the wrist, preventing her from mutilating herself any further. Even though she looked back to see who it was, she already knew without a doubt who would be there. "Luffy..."

Luffy stood behind her, his face blank, bottling all his emotions until he heard the words he needed to hear from her. She dropped the knife, the thing clattering against the ground, as he let go of her hand and her hand dropped to her side. "I couldn't do it...I couldn't save anyone. The Marines nearly killed Nojiko, I nearly lost my sister. And now I am going to lose her. I'm going to lose her, Genzo, everyone. They all took off to fight Arlong and his fishmen...they'll all die because of that. I tried, I really did, I tried so hard. I suffered in silence, as I gathered every berri I could. But it was all for nothing. He won't ever let me go, ever. He'll keep me chained to him for the rest of my life. I won't ever be free."

Luffy crouched down then, so they could be eye level, Nami turning to face him, throwing her arms around him and burying her face into his chest, as she began to cry her eyes out, her sobs shaking her entire body because they were so strong. "L-Lu-Luffy, w-wha-what d-do I-I d-do!?" She begged of him.

He returned the embrace, pulling her tight to him, as she cried into his chest. He removed his hat from his own head then and placed it on hers, still holding her as he did.

While he didn't answer, Nami knew what she had to do anyway. He had been telling her all along, she just never listened. Pulling away so she could look him in the eyes, she said three simple words that she would later learn that when said can make the impossible possible. "Luffy...save me."

"Always." He told her, kissing her forehead as he did.

He proceeded to stand then, turning around and walking forward a few feet, stopping as he threw his head back and cried at the top of his lungs, "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY, AAAAAARLOOOOOONG!"

Nami sat there on her knees, holding tightly onto Luffy's precious hat as it sat atop her head, watching as he made his way toward Arlong Park.

* * *

Zoro was sitting on a rock, Sanji was leaning back against a tree and Usopp was standing in wait, when all their eyes went to Luffy, as he made his way toward them, his deadly serious expression letting them know it was on. "We're going." He told them firmly.

"Right!" They all responded in unison, Zoro taking his bandanna off his arm and tying it around his head, Usopp lowering his own bandanna and placing his goggles over his eyes and Sanji lighting up another cigarette and loosening his tie, as they all proceeded to fall in line with their captain.

And as the four walked side by side in complete unison, the Straw Hat Pirates were officially born.

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_

Alright, you know what comes next, the chapter we've all been waiting for. Now, unlike the previous few chapters, there is no way I'll be getting this next one out within just a day. It'll take a few days at the very least. I'm sure you guys understand. Also, if you have any title suggestions for the next chapter, the chapter where Luffy will finally takes down Arlong, please shoot them to me in a PM. Why? Because I have a chapter title for it already, except it's not too great. It's not bad or good, it's just...meh. And I can't seem to come up with a better title for it. Anyway, see you guys then.


	26. For Nami! The Brutal Battle For Freedom

Sage-of-forbidden-arts: Yeah, neither do I personally. Eh, I didn't doubt the kiss, I just didn't know whether people would like it too much or not. Thank you and you have a wonderful day as well. Though it is really late to say that...well whatever, the sentiment is the same.

JamesLion15: Oh yeah, this has been a long time coming. Arlong will finally get his, no doubt. As for him pushing Luffy over the edge, read and find out my friend.

Guest: Very true, epic walk is epic. XD

Johnny Spectre: That my friend, is where you're wrong. I've had this battle planned for a long time now. More specifically since I posted chapter ten of this story. So be sure to read Luffy's fight with Arlong below, because it isn't anything like before, I promise you that.

Tonlor: Oh big time, it's finally time for some payback. I won't say much on the battles, as they're written below, so you can go read them for yourself. All of them are different though, in some kind of way at least.

AkaiArashi1: Thank you for your suggestions. And I don't usually update so much, but I've just been on a roll, so I went with it.

F-ckthesystem125: Thank you, and yes he does. When Nami said it was like she was Arlong's slave, everything from his past came rushing back, including his days with the Sun Pirates.

Dall365: You have? Why thank you so very much for sticking with me then! I only know of one person who's been here since the beginning and that's my friend F-ckthesystem125, so I'm glad to learn of this, as I now know I have two readers that have been here since the beginning.

A Frozen Shadow: Thank you very much.

GTI: Thank you, I appreciate that. As for giving you goosebumps, I'm glad I was able to convey how good that scene is in my story, especially with it being an altered version of the scene. Believe me, I've got changes. There are events coming that will have the same outcome, but come about in a different way. There are things that never happened that will happen. And of course, there will be things that happened that won't happen. As for Garp...well...he does deserve more blame than I do...technically.

As for my harem story ideas, thank you for letting me know your opinion on them.

The slavery makes you uncomfortable, got it. I will not recommend it to you when it eventually gets posted then. I wonder how you deal with the slavery in the actually anime though...

Dark Luffy, well yeah, that's the point. He will be a very different person. Cold, calculating to a certain degree, violent, and more brutal. In fact, the only time when he'll act like his happy self is when he's alone with his crew. And most of them won't be there. Zoro, Nami and Robin yes. Everyone else, no. He will have an almost entirely new crew, comprised of darker individuals.

Whitebeard Luffy, yeah, that's one of my favorite ideas too. And believe me, Luffy will still be Luffy, just a little different. As for being a good writer...I'm not so sure about that. I do my best though. Anyway, I'll tell you and everyone else whenever I put one of these up.

That's understandable, Vivi is a cool character in her own right after all.

Look a little further back than Amazon Lily in the anime and you'll find the girl who'll be joining. Who is it? You'll just have to wait and find out for sure.

That makes sense, I myself have not actually read any post timeskip chapters either, and I don't watch the anime unless it's dubbed, so I get my info about what's going on in One Piece elsewhere.

Guest who's asking about my other stories: No, Tsukune's Awakening and Naruto Exiled are not abandoned. I never abandon my stories, ever. It may take a long time to update because of real life, working on other stories, not being in the mood to write that particular story and so on and so forth, but I won't ever abandon a story, I promise. I will continue to write until the day I die. Will they be updated soon? I'm not sure, it depends on how everything goes these next few months. All I can tell you for sure though is this, they will be updated eventually, no matter what.

Now I hate when people do this, but you seem kind enough, so I won't delete this review, I'll just tell you not to do this again. Please, please, please, do not ask about my other stories in the review section of a different story of mine, if you have questions regarding a story that I haven't updated in awhile, please send them to me in a PM. It aggravates me to no end to see that I have a new review, only for it to turn out to be someone asking about a different story of mine.

So in closing, no those stories aren't abandoned, please don't ask me about them on the review section of this story, only ask me questions like that by private message and finally, have a nice day.

nightrunner30: Strawhat Vengeance huh? Not bad, but not exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for the suggestion regardless though. Well I'm glad you love the story and while I do appreciate you giving a suggestion for the fight, know that I've had the fight between Luffy and Arlong planned out for a long time now and it will proceed as I wrote it, no outside influence can change that. I do like that you thought of that though, but you aren't the only one who did.

ImraanUOPF: Your fears are grounded in reality, as I have seen many awesome stories abandoned just as they start to get good. As I've said before though, the only way I will ever abandon a story is if I drop dead. Unfortunately it can take me a very, very long time to update sometimes, but I swear, I will never abandon a story. All I can truly do is promise you that. Anyways, as for the humor, well...I do my best to put humor in the story, however things are a little dark right now. It should lighten up soon enough. Then again, it could get dark again very quickly, you never know.

SeanHicks4: Thank you, I thought so too. To each his own, if you like the Japanese terms for One Piece better, then more power to you. I myself heavily prefer the English versions, so that's what I'll be sticking with. I don't let that stand in the way of me reading a story if I really like it though. I'll be honest though, it can bother me at times. Regardless, I do hope you continue to read and enjoy.

KratosTheGodofWar: Those aren't bad, good job. Thank you for your suggestions, and as I'm sure you can already see, while I didn't use one of them, they did help me come up with the title for the chapter, so thank you again.

Guest: It was only for a little while, and like I said, it's not like I can control it. I write when I'm in the mood for that particular fandom I'm writing for, I just can't do it otherwise. I would have gotten this one up sooner, but there were some complications, read further to see what they were. As for begging and threatening, I thank you for not doing either of those, especially the latter. When people threaten an author to update his story, it aggravates me to no end. Anyway, thank you and good day to you as well.

I know it's been over a month since the last chapter, and I'm sorry about that. I would have gotten this chapter up on the thirtieth of September, however, I had to pawn my laptop for reasons I don't wish to disclose. Which is also why I haven't been responding to PM's. And while I still don't have a laptop, last week I found I library that would let me listen to music and write, so I got to work. And this is the result, a thirty three thousand word chapter, hell yeah! My longest chapter for this story to date, and the second longest chapter I'v ever written for any story ever. I really hope you guys like it.

Also, a heads up, I'm closing the movie poll. I will let you know the results next chapter. As to when that will be up...I don't know, it could be awhile.

One more thing before we begin, Arlong is twice as strong as before, while Hatchan, Kuroobi and Chu are all a decent deal stronger. How much stronger exactly? Half of double. Meaning Hachi is as strong as one and a half of his original self, Chu and Kuroobi as well. So not twice as strong as before, but half of their power has been added to their original power. Okay I'm just gonna stop trying to explain, lest I confuse everyone even more.

Anyway, fight time again guys. Now these fights...I think these are some of the best fights I've ever written. Please let me know what you guys think.

Now then, here it is, the chapter we have all been waiting for! Please read, enjoy and review.

* * *

Johnny and Yosaku sat on the ground, bloodied and bruised all over, their backs against the gate to Arlong Park, their swords between each other, crossed like an x. They blocked the Cocoyashi villagers way, keeping them from entering the fishman compound.

"Are you two idiots okay?" Nojiko asked.

"Did Arlong do this to you?" Nako questioned.

When it was clear neither of them were going to answer, Genzo spoke up, "Move aside, we have business to take care of with the fishmen."

"When we finally found out the truth about Big Sis Nami, we were just as angry as everyone else was. But we held ourselves back, because she asked us too. But when Arlong betrayed her, we couldn't stand by and watch any longer. So we came here and challenged him, because we knew it was the only thing we could do to help her." Johnny told them.

"Yeah, but then we lost, but only by a hair." Yosaku added.

"We're sorry, but we can't let you through this gate. You have no chance of victory." Both bounty hunters stated together.

"You think we don't know that!? At this point we have no choice! He'll never let us go! He'll continue to use our lives to force Nami to be his slave for the rest of her life! We have to free her from his control over her, even if it costs us our lives!" Genzo exclaimed.

"Be patient, it won't be long now." Johnny informed them.

"You see we're waiting for the arrival of certain men." Yosaku explained.

"What certain men?" Genzo inquired.

"Don't worry, they'll be here soon, I'd bet my life on it." Yosaku assured them.

Dark clouds were looming overhead at this point, beginning to block out the sun, rain fall imminent. Even still no one paid that any mind, especially as Johnny and Yosaku stood, smiles crossing their faces, as they said, "They're here!"

All of the villagers looked back then, to see the same four teens that had been in their village earlier today. "It's them..."

"But why would they come here? Did they actually come to save Cocoyashi?" Genzo questioned.

Nojiko couldn't help the grin that crossed her face. "They didn't. I know Luffy and Zoro quite well, so believe me when I say that they aren't here for us. They're here for her."

Genzo's eyes widened at that, "Nami..."

"If those men can't handle Arlong and his gang, then there really is no hope. Not only for this island, but for the whole entire East Blue." Yosaku stated bluntly.

"Those are the faces of the four men who are here to change your destiny. Burn their images into your memory." Johnny told them.

As the four drew closer, Luffy spoke up, "Step aside.", he commanded.

And step aside they did, as the look in the hatless straw hat pirate's eyes let them know he wasn't messing around, all of them clearing to one side or the other. The four men walked right up the gate then, Johnny and Yosaku also stepping aside to allow them entrance. Rather than open the gates though, Luffy took a step back, cocking his right arm back as he did, before throwing it forward, ramming it into the gate and shattering it into nothing but a pile of rubble, drawing the attention of every fishman in Arlong Park to him and his fellow crewmates.

"What the?" Arlong questioned, shocked by the show of strength.

"Arlong!" Luffy called.

"Who might you be?" The shark fishman inquired.

"A pirate. The name's Luffy." The rubberman answered him, beginning to walk towards him as he did, his three crewmates standing back at the broken gates as he did.

The blue fismman's eyes widened a tad then, in realization. "That's the name of the punk Nami kept drawing...and the name that was written on that letter sent to her." He thought to himself. "And why are you here? What do you want with me?"

"I'm here to kill you." Luffy stated darkly, just as he reached the fishman, who sat down in his chair.

"You want to kill me? Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Arlong couldn't help but laugh at that, the rest of the fishmen laughing along as well.

As he laughed it up, Luffy brought his right arm back before shooting it forward, ramming his right fist into the side of the Arlong's face, the force behind the punch knocking him right out of the chair, causing him to violently tumble along the ground, cracking the cement along the way as he did, until he hit the back wall of Arlong Park, his upper half breaking through it, falling through and coming to a stop as he hit his head on the ground outside. This left his upper half outside the compound and his lower half inside the compound. "That's for making my Nami cry!"

All the fishmen could only gape at this, completely disbelieving that their captain had just been laid out with a single punch. And while that wasn't the case, it did take the fishman a good minute to sit up, what looked like a nasty bruise already forming on his face. "Your Nami? I see, this is all starting to make sense now. You must be that love sick moron she was talking about." He grinned his shark grin, before speaking once more, "Hachi, summon Momoo."

"Right!" Hatchan turned to the water gates of Arlong Park then, before placing his hand around the bottom half of his face, proceeding to use his mouth like a trumpet, it actually working and sounding like a real trumpet, he made this sound for a good ten seconds before stopping. "Every one of you is about to become fish food! Momoo, rise!"

Out of the water then rose a giant white sea cow, with horns, a gold nose ring and green spots spread across it's body. With this creature out and at attention, many villagers gasped and spoke words of fear, Usopp's knees began to shake, and the fishmen seemed sure that it was all over.

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji on the other hand were completely unimpressed.

"Momoo, eliminate the intruders." Arlong commanded.

As the beast reared back ready to strike, Luffy stepped forward and proceeded to spin his upper half around and around, twisting himself until there were visible knots in his torso, before shooting his arms out, stretching them until his hands were able to grab ahold of the creature's horns. As he made sure his grip was firm, the thing began to cry, as while it had never met this man before, the look in his eyes told the thing that it was screwed.

Luffy let his torso begin to unwind then, and as his upper half began to spin round and round back the opposite way than he had twisted it, Momoo was lifted out of the water and began to be spun around as well, the raven haired pirate captain's strength more than enough to lift the creature. As he whirled Momoo around violently, he ended up hitting every single one of Arlong's cronies, minus Chu, Kuroobi and Hatchan, all of whom had dodged when the sea cow came there way, he also broke the sitting area of Arlong Park, the little roof for shade as well as the shark fishman's chair, all of which were nothing but rubble after being slammed into by the sea creature. "Gum Gum Pinwheel!" A second later and Luffy released his hold on Momoo's horns, just as he finished spinning around, sending the sea cow flying a good hundred feet as he did, the creature making a large splash as it landed back in the ocean a ways away from Arlong Park.

"His arms stretched!" Hatchan pointed out the obvious.

"He has devil fruit powers." Arlong remarked.

"I didn't come here to play your stupid games or fight your dumb cronies, I came here beat your ass into the ground Arlong! So step up!" Luffy exclaimed, turning to the fishman as he did so.

"Oh I intend to." He replied, as he got to his feet.

"Finally, let's do this." Luffy said, as he cracked his knuckles.

As Hatchan, Kuroobi and Chu stepped up to fight along with Arlong, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp stepped up as well, coming to their captain's side.

"Zoro, Sanji, Usopp...show no mercy." Luffy ordered them.

"Understood." They responded in unison.

* * *

Johnny and Yosaku were now standing, their blades held in their right and left hands respectively, the two crossing them like an x still, keeping the villagers from entering the fishman compound.

"You all best stay back, it's about to get real dangerous." Johnny told them.

"Yeah, there's no holding back, those guys are going to bring this place to the ground." Yosaku explained.

"You heard Big Bro Luffy, no mercy will be shown." They both said in unison.

While they were all listening to the two, they still couldn't help but get caught up in what they had already seen.

"Holy hell! Did you see that!?" One of the villagers questioned to all of his fellows.

"I did and I still can't believe it!"

"That straw hat kid just tossed that beast like it was nothing!" Nako said in disbelief.

"And did you see what he did to Arlong!?"

"He socked him in the face like it was nobodies business!"

"I can't believe there's a human out there that strong." Genzo said, also in a state of disbelief.

Nojiko's grin somehow managed to widen even further then. "I always knew Luffy was a monster...who knew that would end up saving this entire island in the long run?" Despite her words, she couldn't help but feeling there was one person who had known. "Bellemere...did you know he would come to save Nami and I? Is that why you seemed so at peace even in the face of death?" There was no real way to tell or not, and yet...Nojiko felt like that must have been it.

"Bellemere placed her faith in you Luffy, show that bastard Arlong why." Nojiko whispered beneath her breath.

* * *

Nami sat on her knees, her tears still somewhat fresh, clutching onto the hat atop her head as if her life depended on it. She hadn't so much as moved from the spot Luffy had left her at, almost catatonic, except for her hand keeping his hat on her head. But finally, she could no longer stand sitting around. "He's fighting for me right now...Luffy is fighting for my sake, they all are. I can't just sit here...I have to go help them."

With her determination renewed, she climbed to her feet, wobbling just a bit, as she felt a tad light headed, which was understandable considering the state she was in. She left the knife where it lay, as she checked to see how bad the wound she had inflicted upon herself was. Touching it, even it was barely, turned out to be a bad idea, as she had to grit her teeth quite hard to keep from yelping in pain, she had really done a number on her arm. She needed to clean it and cover it, so she headed for Nako's little clinic.

Once inside it only took a minute to locate the disinfectant, a clean wash cloth and gauze, pulling them out and setting them down, as she took a seat herself. Pouring some of the disinfectant on the cloth, she dabbed at her wound with it, hissing in pain every time it came into contact with her skin. She made sure to thoroughly clean it in spite of the pain, as she had done this many times and knew how important it was to do so. Once that was over, she moved onto the gauze, wrapping up her left upper arm and her shoulder with it, covering a bit more flesh than absolutely necessary, just in case. That over with, she pulled her disassembled staff out of her shirt and pieced it back together, making it whole once more.

With that done she headed back outside, before turning in the direction of Arlong Park. "I'm coming to help you guys!" She said aloud as she broke into a run, intent on getting to Arlong Park before anything could happen to her loved ones.

* * *

As Sanji and Zoro chose their opponents, that left Usopp with Chu.

"Guess that makes you my opponent, chu."

"Uh, eh, y-yeah, I guess it does." Usopp chuckled nervously.

The two just stood there for a moment, before Usopp suddenly exclaimed, "Cheap shot!", and sucker punched the fishman in the gut as hard as he possibly could, aiming to knock the wind out of him. And while it didn't have the desired effect, it did get him to hunch ever so slightly, as he grunted in pain. Despite it not working like he had planned, Usopp turned and tried to run, only Chu caught him by the shoulder before he could get more than a foot away. "Sorry, but even something cheap like that won't do much when it comes from weaklings like you, chu."

Usopp squawked in fear then, before whirling to face his enemy once more, pulling out a rubber band as he did. Taking aim at the fishman's face, he stretched it back, closed one eye and prepared to fire. "Usopp's Rubber Band Of Doom!"

As Chu flinched, removing his hand from Usopp so he could guard his face with both arms, closing his eyes in the process, the sniper turned tail and ran, dashing right out of Arlong Park as he did, not even bothering to actually snap the rubber band at the fishman.

Chu stood there for a few moments before he realized nothing had hit him, lowering his arms and opening his eyes, he was able to conclude what the long nosed human had just done to him. A blush of embarrassment staining his cheeks, he growled, "I'll get that long nosed punk!"

Moving to follow after him, he stopped once he reached the now gateless entrance, as he realized all the villagers from the village were there. His blush fading, he calmed himself and spoke. "All the villagers from Cocoyashi are here...am I right to assume this is an uprising then? That leaves us no choice, we'll just have to kill you all, chu."

As the villagers prepared to scorn and attack him, a voice called out, "Flame Star!"

Before Chu knew what was happening, he was hit with a small spherical object, that upon impact combusted, covering him in flames. The shock and sudden pain caused him to lose his footing and fall back onto the ground, beginning to roll around frantically, trying to put the fire out. He managed to do so after a few moments and proceeded to stand up, looking back toward the villagers as he did, looking past them to the one who had fired that pellet and set him on fire.

There Usopp was, down on one knee, his slingshot out and having just been used. "Did ya think I was just gonna run away and abandon my friends? Not happening!"

Snarling in anger, Chu quickly rushed past the villagers toward Usopp, completely forgetting about them as he did. And Usopp took this as his cue, shooting to his feet and proceeding to haul ass outta there, leading Chu away from everyone else as he did, since the big lipped fishman wouldn't allow the long nosed human to get away from him at this point.

This chase went on for a good minute or so, both participants running as fast as they possibly could, before Usopp came to a stop and turned to face his fishman enemy, who was still a god ten feet away. Grabbing some ammo, he began to fire on his opponent. "Lead Star!"

It hit him directly in the chest, and while it didn't hurt him, he did come to a stop, beginning to look around as he did. "What was that, a mosquito?" He wondered aloud.

Usopp felt insulted at that, even more so when he realized the blonde was being genuine when he said that. "I'll show you mosquito! Exploding Star!"

It hit it's mark dead on, exploding on impact, covering his face in smoke for a moment. When the smoke dissipated however, he didn't look hurt in the least, rather he just looked annoyed. "So it was you. And what was that pathetic attack?" He looked over to a small pond that they happened upon, before bending down and proceeding to suck all the water out of it into his body, there not being much in there though he finished rather quick. After that he turned back to face his human enemy, "Now let me show you-", only to realize he was on the run again. "Damn coward! Get back here!"

As he prepared to run after him again, the sniper came to a sudden stop, dropping to one knee after turning around to face him once more, his slingshot read to be fired. "I wasn't running that time you bastard! Flame Star!"

Considering what had happened last time this guy got hit with a Flame Star, the marksman was hoping for a repeat performance. Only, to his disappointment, the fishman dodged the projectile this time, moving toward him as he did.

"As I was saying, let me show you a real attack! Squirt Gun!" With that he spat some of the water he had sucked up, it coming out with great speed, flying at Usopp like a bullet, which the long nosed teen managed to dodge just barely by throwing himself onto the ground. "What was that!?" He asked himself aloud.

"That was my Squirt Gun. As for how it works, I doubt a human like you would understand, chu." Chu said, obviously talking down to him as he did.

Usopp's eyes narrowed then. "From my end, it looks like you spit water out at such pressure and speed that it works almost the exact same as a pistol. Am I right? Or am I right?" He falsely questioned with anger, not liking the way he was being talked to.

Chu look surprised by that. "Well...yeah actually, that is how it works."

"Then don't accuse other people of being ignorant when you're the real ignorant one." Usopp bit.

"What was that!?" Chu inquired, growing angry as he did.

"You heard me!" Usopp told him, getting to his feet as he did.

The fishman growled at that. "Squirt Gun!"

As the shot of water came racing at him, the sniper managed to dodge it, before beginning to run away once more.

"You really are a coward! Squirt Gun! Squirt Gun! Squirt Gun!"

Three shots of water came at Usopp from behind, the first one whizzed past his head, missing him by a good half foot, the second zoomed past his his legs, missing him by three inches, the final one just barely grazed his torso, literally only damaging his overalls not even drawing blood from him. However, Chu didn't know that, so as the third shot grazed him, the marksman cried out as if he had been shot and fell forward onto the ground, just barely managing to roll onto his back and make it look believable as he did. "Ketchup Star." He whispered beneath his breath.

"Finally got the damn long nose." Chu stated to no one in particular.

He strolled over to him then and looked down at him, running his eyes over his from, examining him. His eyes were closed, his torso was covered in blood, his arms were sprawled out on either side of him, he didn't seem like he was breathing, so he must be dead. He kicked him just to make sure, and when he got no response, he was assured that he was indeed dead. "Time to get back to Arlong Park, chu."

He turned and began to walk at an only slightly brisk pace, muttering to himself as he did, "Damn weakling cowards being able to run so fast, it's simply aggravating, chu."

"What was that about cowardly weaklings!?" He heard the voice of his enemy call out from behind him.

As he whirled to face him, he was hit with three projectiles, all of which exploded on contact. "Triple Exploding Star!"

Once again, when the smoke dissipated, no harm had been done to him. "I thought you were dead, it was foolish of you to get up. You should have stayed down, taken the way out when it was presented to you. Now you'll die because of your stupidity, chu."

"Oh yeah!? Well we'll just see about that now won't we!?" Usopp shouted. In spite of what he was saying, his shaking knees revealed that he was quite scared at the moment.

"Squirt Gun!"

The marksman threw himself to the ground once more to dodge the water bullet, before proceeding to crawl into the surrounding woods, to take cover from anymore attacks. Which proved to be the right thing to do, as they were right next to a small lake at this point, and Chu noticed that. Bending down, he sucked up a decent deal of water, before standing up and turning to face the woods. He looked around for a few moments, before it was clear he wouldn't spot him like this. "You can't hide from me! Squirt Machine Gun!"

With that he began rapid firing those water shots, one after the other bombarding the trees around, breaking through the trunks all the way with ease. As Usopp watched this happen from where he sat behind a particularly guarded tree, he had to keep himself from squawking in fear. This water shot bombardment kept up until at least a hundred shots had been fired, and one certain tree had taken more than it's share of the damage and was dangerously close to falling over at that point. It creaked as it came down, slamming into the ground, causing all it's leaves to rustle as it did.

Usopp looked at the tree in horror. "He turned that tree into swiss cheese!" He swallowed the lump in his throat then, as he fought back tears of fear and panic. "That could've been me!" He thought frantically to himself. He then pictured himself being hit by all those dangerous squirts of water, causing him to shudder at the mental image of himself full of holes. "I don't wanna be swiss Usopp!"

The long nosed teen wanted to run so bad, no he needed to, it was like a feeling in his gut and an ache in his bones, like his whole body was telling him, 'Run away!'. "But I can't, I can't run! How could I face Luffy and the others if I ran away like nothing more than a coward when they all put their lives on the line? How could I call myself a man if I don't stand and fight?"

"Fine, if that won't work..." Chu turned around then and leaned down to begin sucking up water once more. Only this time, he went on longer, not stopping for awhile longer than normal. Once that was the case he stood up straight and turned towards the woods once more. "Squirt Cannon!" He proceeded to shoot a large ball of water almost a big as he was then, the ball slamming into two trees and exploding on impact, breaking the trees in half and causing them to fall over, while little water droplets went everywhere, hitting hard enough to rip up grass and rip off bark. However, even after this, he was no closer to hitting Usopp.

Growling in annoyance and aggravation, Chu decided that enough was enough. He stepped into the lake then, not going all the way, stopping at calve deep water, before leaning down and beginning to suck up water once more.

Usopp closed his eyes tightly as his inner struggle drew to a close. "If I fight, I might lose, if I lose, I'll die...but...at least I'd die a pirate." He came to his decision then, opening his eyes as he did.

Having sucked up so much water that he looked like a balloon, his stomach having expanded quite a bit, Chu seemed to be ready. Turning around to the woods for the final time, he prepared to end this. "Ultimate Squirt Cannon!" What Chu proceeded to expel from his mouth was a monster blast, easily dwarfing his previous attack by tenfold over, as it collided with part of the surrounding forest and exploded, wreaking destruction across the land as it did.

Usopp had hit the deck, as he didn't want to be hit by any chance, so all he got to perceive was the sound of it as it exploded. Once he was sure he was in the clear, he sat back up, looking over to see where it hit and went bug eyed. "OOOH! NO WAY! THAT'S NOT GOOD!" He was referring to the fact that the blast of water leveled an whole section of the forest, trees uprooted and scattered about, broken in halve, broken in thirds, nothing but piles of timber, all varying in degrees of having been destroyed.

As he marveled at the sight, he had poked his head out, allowing Chu to see him. "Damn it, why should I have to waste my time with such an idiot?" He remarked bitterly.

Usopp heard this of course, turning to look at him, deciding to end this before it got any further out of hand. "Who you calling idiot!?" With that he pulled a glass bottle out of his pack, before proceeding to toss it at the fishman.

It was a good throw, as the bottle went spinning all the way at him, but Chu was better, catching it upright in his right hand without even cracking it as he did. His curiosity getting the better of him, he looked down at it. "Huh, sake?"

"Lead Star!" The metallic ball hit the glass bottle dead center, shattering it and soaking the fishman in the liquid. He stumbled back, as he rubbed at his eyes, cursing his opponent as he did. "Why you little sunuva bitch!"

Once he had gotten his eyes to stop stinging, he looked back to where Usopp had been, the teen now gone. "Is this the only way you can fight coward!? Hit and run!? How pathetic!" He began moving toward where he had last seen the sniper then, already having a good idea where he was.

Usopp sat behind the tree once more, hiding from his enemy. "I can do this, I can do this, I know I can! I'm not a pretend pirate anymore! I don't play, because I'm the real thing! I'll beat this guy and show Luffy and everyone else that my fake pirate days are over!"

Chu knew where he was and proceeded to kick the tree he was hiding behind, breaking right through it and causing it to fall over, while Usopp used all the strength he could muster from his legs and leaped from his crouching spot, ending up upside down in the air, his head only inches from hitting the ground as he prepared to fire his slingshot.

"What did you say was over?" Chu asked disinterestedly.

"This whole fight! Alcohol lights on fire! Special Attack: Certain Kill Flame Star!" With that he fired a pellet that when it hit the big lipped fishman, ignited his entire body in flames, it doing so because of the alcoholic beverage covering him, the fire also burning hotter because of this fact.

As Usopp hit the ground, managing to make his upper back take the impact, Chu began to freak out, running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

"AHHHHHH! Fire! It burns! It burns so much more than last time!" Realizing stopping, dropping and rolling probably wasn't the best idea, he turned toward the almost dried up lake he had been sucking up water from. "Water! Water, water, water! Must get to the water! WATER!"

Seeing what his opponent was doing and knowing he would just douse himself and get back up, Usopp quickly shot to his feet and followed after him. "Wait a minute, where do you think you're going!?"

Quickly pulling out his small mallet that he used to help him build stuff, he lept after the fishman, reaching him just as he was stepping foot into the water and clonking him over the head as hard as he possibly could. "Usopp Hammer!"

The fishman was knocked down into the small body of water then, a lump already forming on his head as the flames were put out, while Usopp landed a few feet away, hitting the ground under the water somewhat hard from leaping and landing. Said water wasn't even deep enough to drown in while lying down.

Before he could even think about celebrating his victory, Chu began trying to get up. "You bastard!"

"Eeeh!" Usopp squeaked in surprise, jumping to his feet before rushing over to the fishman and beginning to try and make him stay down. "Usopp Hammer! Usopp Hammer! Usopp Hammer! Usopp Hammer! Rubber Band Of Doom! Usopp Hammer! Usopp Hammer! Usopp Hammer! Usopp Hammer! Usopp Hammer!"

Usopp began to pant, as he now stood over the very much unconscious Chu, who had ten big lumps on his head, his eyes rolled back into his head, lying face down in the water. Once he managed to catch his breath, he put up his mallet and realized what he had accomplished. "I did it, I beat a fishman. You see that loser, I beat your ass!" A very large smile crossed his face then. "I can't believe I actually did it! Who's a pirate now!? I am! I am Usopp the pirate!"

His delight didn't last long, as the adrenaline began to wear off and he felt pain shoot through his body, causing him to fall to one knee. "Oh crap!" Looking down, he found the source of the pain. There was a small group of tiny holes in his abdomen, on the left side more specifically, blood leaking from them, he had been hit by one of that fishman's attacks. "It must have been some of the droplets from that first Squirt Cannon of his, because these holes are too small to be from his regular shots."

That thought triggered a few things to flash in his mind.

The things Nami had said the fishman had done, her story about how they ruined her life, took over her village and made her their slave.

The villagers eight year long plight.

Luffy's order to, 'Show no mercy.'. Why had he given them that order? Usopp knew why. They would never stop. They would simply do this again after being defeated. Whether they came after Nami or not, they could still come after this village, or another one altogether. They had to be put down. But could he do it? Could he follow through? He hadn't been able to with Kuro and he hated that bastard more than anyone else in the world. Could he overcome his inability to kill simply because his captain ordered him to?

Usopp got to his feet then, keeping pressure on the tiny holes in his torso with his left hand, as his right hand reached back for something he had kept tucked away since the night before.

* * *

_Last Night..._

_Usopp sat at the dining table in Nami's and Nojiko's house, as Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Johnny and Yosaku all slept on the floor, spread about the modest sized house. Nami was sleeping in the bed. Nojiko was nowhere to be seen._

_The long nosed teen hadn't woken up, in fact he had yet to be asleep. His mind was dwelling on everything that had happened since they had arrived here. That plus the fact that they could end up fighting the fishmen, who were supposed to be ten times stronger than the average human, also rested heavily on him. He was frightened about the prospect sure, but he felt that if it was for one of his crewmates, who was he to run away?_

_His attention was pulled from his thoughts, as Nojiko sat beside him. "Huh, Nojiko, where'd you come from?"_

_"I was staying in the village so everyone could have a place to sleep. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is that you four might be going up against Arlong and his cronies soon."_

_"Wha-but didn't you try and stop me from doing just that earlier? I had that fishman in my sights, I could-"_

_Nojiko shook her head as she cut him off. "First I didn't know you were a part of Luffy's crew, second yeah, you could have gotten all of us killed. I mean, do you honestly think you're strong enough to take on Arlong on your own?"_

_"I-" Usopp opened his mouth to boast and say he could handle a hundred of the guy, but stopped himself as he thought back to Kuro. "N-no, I-I don't think I could."_

_"Exactly. Luffy and Zoro are monsters, I spent three years with the guys, believe me, I know. If anyone can do it, it's those two. And from the looks of it, that Sanji guy you guys recruited seems close to the same level as them, so there's no need to worry about him either. You on the other hand, are just as weak as the rest of us normal people."_

_"Well...yeah, I guess." Usopp admitted, not liking to admit that he was in fact weak._

_"That's the point, you're just like the rest of us, and yet you're going to take on fishmen. It's suicide. You'll most likely die if you fight one by yourself. That's why I want you to take this, just in case." She presented a flintlock pistol to him as she said this._

_"A pistol?" He questioned, as if disbelieving of it being there in her hands._

_"Yeah, you know how to shoot it right?"_

_"What!? Of course I do, you're looking at the best damn sniper in all of the East Blue, the marksman of the Straw Hat Pirates!"_

_"Straw Hat Pirates?" Nojiko inquired._

_"Yeah, Luffy, Zoro and I decided on a name for our crew a couple of days ago. I mean it makes sense, we-"_

_"Yeah, that's good and all, but just take the damn gun already." Nojiko interrupted him._

_"But I don't understand why. I already have my slingshot and my own ammo, so why do I need a gun?"_

_"That way you can defend yourself, no matter what happens. You're Nami's friend, so I don't want anything happening to you. I can literally count how many people who can make her smile on one hand and you're one of them. I don't want her to lose any of you."_

_Usopp was touched, he was, but after what happened with Kuro, he didn't think he could kill anyone. "But I don't think...I don't think I could use it, not like you're intending me to. I don't think I have it in me to just kill someone like that."_

_"I'm not saying you have to, I'm just asking you to take this with you in case you get into some trouble that you can't seem to get yourself out of. You don't have to kill anyone, I just want you to take this to defend yourself with in case anything really, really bad happens, that's all."_

_Silence reigned in the room then, lasting for a good half a minute, before Usopp finally took the weapon from her. "Alright, I'll take it with me, just in case."_

_"Just in case." Nojiko affirmed, nodding her head once as she did._

* * *

Usopp brandished the flintlock pistol, his grip on it firm as he did. His breathing sped up a little, as did his heart beat, as he wrestled with himself on what he should do. As he did though, Nami's recounting of what happened the day the fishmen arrived kept echoing in his head...over and over again. Until, he heard Luffy's voice break through her voice, so clearly it was as if he was standing right beside him, "Zoro, Sanji, Usopp...show no mercy."

With that, Usopp took aim, the barrel of the pistol no more than six inches away from the fishman's head, and he fired, the bullet speeding out of the gun and ramming right into the back of his enemy's head, ripping and tearing through his flesh and bone before bursting out the front of his head, blood, skin tissue, and brain matter polluting the ankle deep water once it did. And with that, Chu was dead.

Usopp could only stand there, wide eyed and staring at what he had just done, a mix of emotions running through him. He had just killed someone, ended their life. That was all that kept running through his head.

He wasn't sure how long he stood there, frozen, but he didn't so much as twitch, until it began raining. Once it did, he looked up at the sky, as the drops of water washed over him, causing the ketchup that was still left on his body to begin running off, as well as the blood from the holes in his abdomen. Bringing his head back down, he dropped the pistol, it making a small splash as it hit the bottom of the small lake, before turning around and proceeding to make his way back to Arlong Park, where the others were waiting for him.

**Usopp vs Chu**

**Winner: Usopp**

* * *

Sanji and Kuroobi stared each other down for a moment, before the fishman brandished a single cutlass, causing the cook to quirk his visible eyebrow at that. "You're a swordsman?" He inquired.

"Indeed I am. It may not be my preferred fighting style and I may not be as proficient with a blade as Hachi, but my skill level should be more than enough to take down a pathetic human like you."

"Is that so?" Sanji questioned. "You haven't even seen what I can do, talk about underestimating your opponent."

"We'll see about that."

Kuroobi pivoted forward then, going for horizontal slash as he did, which his blonde enemy fell back into a handstand stance to avoid. Before he could try and attack from said stance, the ray fishman lunged toward him, attempting the same slash just from a different direction. His well dressed opponent simply pushed off the ground with his hands, leaping back several feet, landing on the cement feet first, now facing the fishman once again, as he stood upright once more.

Charging him this time, Kuroobi attempted to impale him on his blade, only the chef sidestepped just in time, causing him to pierce one of the stone walls of Arlong Park, burying his sword several inches into the thick wall. As Sanji tried to take advantage of this by getting in a kick while his sword was stuck, the fishman blocked the attack with his left arm, as he yanked the cutlass out of the wall with his right hand, cracking the wall a few inches in all directions as he did.

As the blonde pulled his leg back, he had to shoot the other one forward, to intercept and block Kuroobi, as he tried to smash him with the butt of the sword. They both pulled back, but the human was the one who got the next move, throwing a straight kick, aiming for the ray fishman's abdomen, only to be blocked by the blade of his cutlass.

He pulled back and attempted to step back as well, so he could launch another attack, but the fishman wasn't having it, rushing the cook, getting in close and unleashing a barrage of slashes against him, horizontal left, horizontal right, vertical up, vertical down, diagonal left downward, diagonal right upward, diagonal left upward, diagonal right downward, x formation and finally a good thrust of the blade to skewer him.

Sanji back stepped twice in quick succession to avoid the first two swings of the blade, used his left foot to kick down the blade when it came up at him, used his right foot to kick up the blade when it came down at him, swayed to the right when the blade came down in a diagonal manner, swayed to the left for the diagonal retreat of the blade, swayed left once more for the left up diagonal swing and swayed for the final time to the right, to avoid the last diagonal slash. He had to quickly block the blade twice back to back with his right foot, to avoid getting an x carved into his chest, and when it was thrusted at him, he side stepped, before bring his left leg up and down again, slamming his heel down into the blade, breaking it in half and knocking it out of his opponent's hands.

"So, how are you going to fight me now?" Sanji questioned, his foot firmly pinning the broken sword to the ground.

"Fishman Karate: Hundred Brick Fist!" As Kuroobi's arm shot forward and his fist rammed into his opponent's midsection, the blonde couldn't help but cough up a bit of blood. And while the strike had been strong enough to send him flying or at least skidding back, he had prevented that by grabbing ahold of his enemy's arm as it hit him. What the teen was really grateful for was that the punch hadn't aimed at his chest, because that would have hurt like a bitch, considering his ribs still wouldn't be fully healed for awhile.

"My swordsmanship is nothing compared to my preferred fighting style. I am trained in the martial art known as Fishman Karate and am a level fourty practitioner of the art."

"Good for you." Sanji wheezed out sarcastically, his cigarette still in his mouth despite having just coughed up a bit of blood.

"What you just took was my Hundred Brick Fist, capable of breaking through one hundred-"

"Yeah, I really don't care." The chef stated honestly, letting go of the fishman's arm as he did, before turning just a bit and shooting his left leg out at his enemy. "Tendron!" The side kick had a major impact, as his foot rammed into the middle of the fishman's collar bone and sent him skidding back nearly a dozen feet, the nonhuman yelping in pain as he did.

Once he had stopped skidding, the ray fishman spoke, "Not bad...", he groaned in pain as quietly as he could then, "...for a human anyway." Taking his hands off his collar bone, which he had been clutching in pain, he walked a few feet closer and spoke again. "You seem to be quite skilled considering your species, so why are you here? Is it really for that backstabbing traitor Nami?"

"Watch how you talk about a lady around me fish, or you'll end up being my next side dish." Sanji warned.

"A lady huh? You rushed into certain death for one lousy girl, I think that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Kuroobi stated honestly.

"First of all, as far as I can see, the only one who's going to die here is you. Second, lousy girl? If you dare insult Nami again, I promise you'll go from fishman to fish-sticks, got that?"

"Chivalry? From a pirate? Seems just a little fake doesn't it?" Kuroobi pointed out.

"I guarantee you there's nothing fake about my desire to help a beautiful lady in need." The cook told him straight up. "With that said, the only way to help her now, is to take you out."

"You think you can actually defeat me? Why? Just because you landed a single kick?"

"No, because I'm stronger than you." Sanji told him bluntly.

"If you really think that, then it looks like I'll just have to acquaint you with the true superiority of the fishman species."

"Go ahead, if you think you can." The blonde taunted.

The fishman charged him then, going for a strong right straight once he was close enough to attack, which his opponent sidestepped before launching an attack of his own, bringing his right leg up for a nicely placed kick to the side of the nonhuman's head. The dark haired nonhuman blocked the blow with his left arm, bringing it up just before the kick could connect, proceeding to try for a right hook the moment afterward. Which the chef blocked, placing his right leg back on the ground while bringing his left one up, intercepting the fist with the sole of his shoe, stopping the punch in it's tracks. The fishman then simply tried for a left hook, but that too was stopped, pushing off the fist with his left foot, the cook forced it back and met the other one with the same foot, only this time he didn't give his opponent time for another attack.

Pushing the fist back with his foot, the well dressed man lowered his left leg as he brought his right leg up, doing so too fast for his enemy to block or counter, and rammed his shoe clad foot into the side of the ray fishman's head, causing him to stumble several feet to his right as he released a grunt of pain. Following up, the pirate cook closed the distance between them and slammed the length of his leg into the long haired fishman's side, cracking a few of his ribs upon impact and causing him to bite his tongue to keep from yelping in pain, cringing as he grasped his left side all the while. His enemy in pain, the pirate chef launched another kick, this one a straight left kick, aimed for the face.

Kuroobi was left hurting from that kick to the ribs, but he still had enough of his wits about him to block the incoming kick, using the fin extending from his right arm to do so. Bringing his left hand away from his hurting side as well, he caught his human enemy's foot, as he tried for another kick, after putting his other leg down of course. Not letting him try for another, he stopped him from even moving again by shooting his right knee up and slamming it into his abdomen, causing him to hunch over in pain, his mouth opening for a cry of pain only for nothing to come out, the wind knocked out of him. Not stopping there, the ray fishman pulled his knee back before repeating the attack with his left knee, bringing it up and slamming it into the blonde's gut, almost causing him to puke. Not satisfied with that, he pulled his left knee back and used his right one again, slamming it into the same part of his torso, and while it didn't cause him to throw up, it did manage to get him to hack up some blood, it also managed to get that cigarette out of his mouth, said tobacco stick landing in the blood, causing it to be put out.

Pulling his knee back once more, Kuroobi quickly launched another attack. "Fishman Karate: Forearm Sledge!" Bringing his right arm up above his head, he proceeded to bring it racing down, ramming the fin extending from his elbow down into the back of his opponent's neck, knocking him to the ground, the blonde managing to catch himself in the all fours position, but was forced to let out a yelp of pain regardless. The fishman then pulled back his right leg and shot it forward, kicking the well dressed man hard in the face, knocking him over onto his back on the ground, his head literally only an inch or so from touching one of the walls of Arlong Park.

Even after being hit with that succession of attacks, the cook wasn't showing any signs of staying down, beginning to get to his feet only a moment after he hit the ground. With his enemy busy getting to his feet, the fishman karate user prepared to use another one of his strongest moves. "Fishman Karat-" Before he could even finish the attack name, Sanji had gotten to his feet and damn near flew over to him, moving so fast he didn't realize he didn't have any time, the chef's right foot buried in his gut with great force, causing the wind to be knocked out of him and for him to hunch over, his mouth coming open for a cry of pain, only for nothing to come out. Not stopping there, he pulled his foot back and shot it forward again, slamming it into the fish bastard's gut a second time, before pulling back and slamming it into him again, hitting him three times in a row like he did to him before. And just like his human enemy, the fishman couldn't help but hock up some blood from being kicked hard in the gut three times in a row.

Pulling his leg back, the pirate cook took a step back and kicked the ray fishman in the left side of his head again, causing him to stumble to his right again, almost falling on to the ground as he did. Not letting him off with just that, the blonde moved over to him, brought his right leg up and brought it down, slamming his heel down into the back of his opponent's head, knocking him to the ground, though he managed to catch himself from eating the cement by going into the all fours position. Going for one more kick, he pulled his right leg back and kicked out, slamming the sole of his foot into the left side of the fishman's head, nearly cracking his skull as he did, hitting him so hard that as he was knocked over onto his back on to the ground, blood began to flow from his left ear, a nasty bruise also beginning to form on that side of his face as well.

His enemy down for the moment, Sanji pulled out his pack of cigarettes, retrieving one of them from said pack and placing it in his mouth, proceeding to pull out his lighter right afterward, using it to light up. Now that he had another nicotine tube, he placed his pack and lighter back in his suit jacket and took a drag, waiting for the long haired fishman to get up all the while.

Kuroobi was once more in the all fours position, as he did his best to get back to his feet. His head was spinning from being kicked so hard, his left eardrum ruptured for sure, and his head also pounded like no one's business, a massive head ache plaguing him at the moment. He hadn't felt this much pain since his last battle with the Marines back when he was a Sun Pirate, and while that had been worse, this took second place, as they were the only ones who ever kicked the crap out of him and his fellow fishmen, until now that is. That fact angered the ray fishman greatly.

Managing to get to his feet, he had to catch himself, as he nearly stumbled back and fell. As he did this, his human opponent just stood there, waiting for him to get it together, which only angered him further, said anger morphing into rage. "What do you think you're doing human!? Just standing there, waiting! Is this suppose to be your way of showing me pity!? Well I don't want it or need it! Fishmen are superior in every way to you foolish and weak humans! So hurry up and fight me already!"

"Pity? No, this isn't a show of pity. I don't have any pity for you in fact. I'd just prefer to kill someone who's on their feet and able to defend themselves." Sanji told him bluntly.

"You honestly think you can win!? You cocky, weak, pathetic human! I'm the one who will win this battle! You aren't strong enough to kill me!" He slipped into his fishman karate stance once more then. "Now you will witness the true power of fishman karate! When I hit you with that brick fist before, that was just a sample of things to come. My ultimate attack is ten times as powerful...and the chances that you'll survive it, are ZEROOOOO!"

Both men pivoted forward to attack then, but it was Kuroobi's that hit. "Fishman Karate: Thousand Brick Fist!" He threw his right arm forward with all the strength he had, ramming it into Sanji's chest, causing him to scream in pain as his still healing ribs were violently broken all over again, and he was sent flying back into one of the walls of Arlong Park, passing right by the broken gate as he did. He slammed into the wall hard, his body embedding itself halfway into it, sending cracks of varying inches in length throughout the immediate area of the wall. He fell out of the wall then, leaving an indentation of himself in it, as he fell onto the ground on all fours and began to dry heave for a moment, before something actually came out, the blonde beginning to vomit blood.

While he only threw up blood once, dry heaving a little bit once more afterward, it was still a good amount of blood, so much that a normal human would feel woozy and possibly need a doctor. The blonde tried to get up, but his chest was screaming in pain, so much so that he felt agonizing pain beyond what he had felt when they were broken the first time. In spite of himself, he fell out of the all fours position face first onto the ground, right into the puddle of blood he had just regurgitated.

His human enemy no longer moving, Kuroobi was sure that he was dead, as in his mind there was no possible way a human could survive his ultimate technique. Nevertheless, he spoke as if he could hear him. "See? You weren't strong enough to defeat a fishman, no human is. As long as we're around, you won't be able to protect anyone. All you accomplished was sealing that woman's fate, as with your presence here, there can be no doubt she betrayed us, even in spite of his fondness of her, Arlong will have to see that."

With that he turned around to see how Arlong and Hatchan were faring in their battles, only as he did, he realized his octopus comrade was nowhere to be seen, the same could be said for the green haired swordsman he was fighting. But that wasn't what caused his eyes to nearly pop out of his head, his jaw dropping in surprise and shock, "A-Arlong?" He questioned disbelievingly, never having seen his captain in such a state before.

Before he could fully register the scene before him, stepping forward out of instinct more than anything else, a voice called out to him. "Hey fishface!"

Whirling around to face the blonde he was sure he had killed, his eyes managed to widen to the fullest degree. "You...you're still alive!? H-how...?" He inquired, his disbelief more than evident.

Sanji was struggling to get to his feet, barely managing to make it to all fours at this point, spitting out the left over blood in his mouth as he did. As his body shook in pain with every movement, he forced himself to one foot and a knee, slowly getting there. "I'm not done yet...I can still fight. Something like that is noth-nothing compared to the kind of hits I've taken. That damn Geezer hits a thousand times harder than you ever could, so if I couldn't take something like this, I'd have died years ago." He wheezed out, coughing up a bit more blood as he did. He wasn't bluffing, but that punch had done more damage than it should've to begin with. If it wasn't for the fact that his ribs were already messed up, he wouldn't be having such a problem right now.

Finally getting to his feet, he wobbled a bit, but kept himself from stumbling at all. He took his jacket off then, using it to wipe all the blood of his face and get it all out of his hair, since he had been lying face down in his own thrown up blood after all. Once he had done that, he tossed it aside, taking his tie off and throwing it aside as well, not bothering to get a third cigarette, the second one having come out of his mouth when he puked up blood, as he was going to finish this first before he tried to have a smoke again and to make sure that happened, he was prepared to go at the fishman with everything he had this time.

"Even if you managed to survive my ultimate technique, you still won't-" Kuroobi couldn't finish his sentence, as he had to bring both arms up and block a strong left kick from the pirate cook, the force behind the attack causing him to skid back a bit regardless. With the ray fishman's guard up, the chef put his leg down as he shot the other one up, bringing it from behind and slamming his foot into the back of his nonhuman opponent's head, knocking him forward face first into the ground, hitting it with a resounding smack. "What was the crack about not being able to protect anyone!?" Sanji growled.

Taking half a step back, he raised his right leg into the air, extending it to the fullest as he did. "Epaule!" He brought it down then, ramming his heel into his enemy's right shoulder, breaking it and causing him to cry out in pain as he did, the force of it forcing him into the ground causing said ground to crack several inches in all directions. "And what are you going to do to Nami exactly!?"

Sanji then kicked the ray fishman in the jaw, doing so with enough force that it literally knocked him up onto his feet, the long haired man looking ready to collapse any second. With that Sanji jumped into the air, reaching a good six feet off the ground as he prepared to end the fight. "Nothing, that's what! I'll kill you before you can touch her! Collier Shot!" Shooting his right leg forward, he rammed the length of it into his enemy's throat with all his might, crushing his trachea upon impact, knocking him straight onto his back on to the ground, cracking it even further, about a dozen inches in all directions.

With his windpipe crushed to such a severe degree, the fishman could no longer even so much as hope to breathe. He clutched at his throat desperately, as if he could someone stop the agony he was in and get himself breathing once more. Blood began to flow from his mouth as the orifice began to overfill with it, all the while the long haired nonhuman began to suffocate from a lack of oxygen.

Quickly realizing that while he would still be in bad shape, if he could get himself into the water he would at least survive the mortal injury that had just been inflicted upon him, the fishman turned himself over onto his front side and began to crawl toward the water.

Sanji, who had landed gracefully on both feet, made no move to stop the ray fishman as he crawled across the cement ground to what was his only salvation. In fact, he turned and walked away, heading toward his blood stained jacket as he did. It took him a few moments to reach it, and once he did he didn't bother to pick it up, simply crouching down and pulling out his cigarette pack and lighter. Retrieving a cigarette, he placed it in his mouth, flipped open his lighter and lit it, before placing both the lighter and pack of cigarettes back in the jacket.

Turning to face his struggling to survive enemy, he saw him mere inches away from the water that could save his life. But just as he as he got there, just before he could pull himself into the water, his lungs gave out on him, and he suffocated to death, his body going limp, causing his arms to splash into the water as they began to dangle lifelessly. And just like that, Kuroobi was dead.

Sanji took a long drag of his cigarette then, taking his time before pulling it out of his mouth and exhaling, still gazing at the body of the now deceased fishman as he did. Then, without a word, he turned and made his way over to where the villagers of Cocoyashi village stood, just outside the compound, completely flabbergasted by everything they were seeing.

**Sanji vs Kuroobi**

**Winner: Sanji**

* * *

Zoro stood across from Hatchan, as he drew his blades, speaking while he did, "Looks like it's you and me Octopus."

"My name is Hatchan, I already told you that! Speaking of which, you tricked me you jerk!" Hachi accused.

"Tricked you?" The green haired man questioned, placing the grip of one of his blades between his teeth afterward.

"Yeah, tricked me! You didn't tell me you were the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro!"

"I told you my name to your face." The swordsman rebutted, his words rather clear considering he had the grip of a sword in his mouth.

"Yeah maybe, but you didn't tell me you were The Zoro!" He tried to rationalize.

The three sword wielding teen quirked a brow at that. "You're not actually serious are you?" He inquired.

"Of course I am, I don't like being tricked!"

The eighteen year old couldn't help but sigh at that. "Whatever. Look, are we going to fight or not?"

Hatchan's eyes widened in realization at that. "Oh yeah, I forgot." He seemed to calm down then. "Alright, let's fight."

With that Zoro pivoted forward and slashed at his opponent with all three blades, the fishman ducking at the last second to avoid being beheaded. And while he did prevent the blades from touching his flesh, he didn't actually stop himself from getting cut, as the swords chopped off all five of the tops of his spiked hair.

He quickly realized this as he stood up, reaching for his missing pieces of hair and grabbing nothing but air. "You bastard, my hair!" He shouted angrily, his teeth grit. "But it's okay, it's only hair, it'll grow back." He said suddenly, much calmer than he had been a second ago, as if someone had reminded him that it wasn't such a big deal.

Zoro simply watched silently, as his opponent had his little mood swing, not sure how he was going to act next.

He seemed to remember that he was supposed to be fighting, and placed his attention on his enemy once more. "Now Zoro, you can't beat me, I have six hands that'll mesmerize you with their wiggly beauty!" The fishman said, as he began to wiggle all six of his arms.

"You've got to be kidding me." Zoro groaned. "I just had to get stuck with the idiot didn't I?" Brushing his annoyance off, the green haired man prepared to attack once more. "Yeah, whatever, let's just get this over with."

He came at the fishman with all three blades once more, only this time, Hatchan didn't try to dodge. "Now you will see my skills! Hachi's Triple Sword Catch!" The octopus man positioned two hands at each blade, attempting to clamp down on them with two hands each, so as to keep them from actually reaching his body. Only he tried to grab ahold of them just a second too late and ended up with three cuts across his chest for his trouble. "Ow, that hurt!" He yelled in pain, as he began to bleed.

"Well no shit!" Zoro shouted at him, becoming aggravated by his apparent lack of brain activity. "I better just end this quick, that way I won't have to deal with a headache afterward." He sighed.

With that in mind, he went for a potentially fatal slash against his nonhuman enemy, only for said enemy to leap off the ground at the last second. "Hachi Suckers!"

The swordsman looked up at the fishman then, to see him sticking to one of Arlong Park's support beams, his arms wrapped around it and his suckers helping him stay up there. Wondering what the octopus man was up to, he stood his ground and waited for the nonhuman to make the first move.

Ten seconds...

The green haired combatant hadn't so much as twitched, his eyes boring into his opponent, watching for the slightest move, so that he would be ready to dodge, block or intercept anything he threw at him. The same could be said for the fishman, as he just stared down at his human enemy, unblinking as he did.

Twenty seconds...

He blinked a few times, wondering if he was missing something. What was his enemy doing up there? Was he buying time? But what for? Maybe he was waiting for him to make the next move? Or perhaps he was distracting him? The swordsman took a quick glance behind him, nothing there, and quickly returned his eyes to the octopus man.

Thirty seconds...

"Don't just sit there, get down here and fight!" Zoro demanded, his annoyance and aggravation clear.

The fishman just blinked at him a couple times.

"Are you coming down or what!?" He growled, anger building thanks to his frustration.

"I would but...Hachi's suckers...are stuck."

Zoro couldn't help but face palm at that. "How stupid is this guy?" He wondered to himself.

"Are you just going to keep running scared from me every time I try and attack? Are you that much of a coward!?" He asked angrily.

That seemed to get to the octopus. "Shut up! I've just been playing around with you is all!"

"Then hurry up and get serious already! I don't have all day!"

"Fine, but I have to warn ya, humans can't defeat me. I could tell you why, but I think it'd be more fun to show you. Yeah show, I'd like that. I think you're really gonna enjoy it a lot too." Hatchan said, once more in a good mood. "Be right back, it's time for you to see what I can truly do."

With that he climbed up the support beam to the second level of Arlong Park. Detaching his suckers, he entered the building through a window and began rummaging around for a few moments, the noise created by him doing so just barely audible to the swordsman outside. After a few moments he came back out, wielding a sword in each of his six hands as he did. "Now you may tremble at Hachi's way of six blades!"

"A swordsman huh? Alright, maybe this won't be so bad after all." Zoro remarked, most of his frustration and anger melting away, a small grin crossing his face as they did.

The pink skinned fishman jumped down to ground level, turning to his opponent as he did, "Now I can show you the might of my six sword style!"

"I can't wait." Zoro stated somewhat mockingly.

The two sword wielding combatants charged each other and clashed blades, two of the fishman's swords hitting each one of the human's, both going back and forth trying for attacks and being blocked by the other's blades. This little clash of their's didn't last long, only a handful of moments at best, before they broke apart, getting a couple of feet of distance between each other.

That's when Hatchan took the initiative. "Tentacle Sword Overload!" With that the octopus man rushed his human enemy, flailing his swords wildly all around, almost looking like a complete novice simply trying to play at being a swordsman. However, as the green haired man scrutinized his opponent's movements, he could see the method to this ridiculous attack. With every passing moment, he moved his arms a bit faster and handled his blades with a bit more skill and finesse, it was hardly even noticeable, but it was there nevertheless. Odds were by the time he got over to him, those uncontrollable swings of his would turn into a deadly barrage of slashes, a very sloppy deadly barrage, but still a deadly barrage regardless.

Still the three sword style swordsman stood his ground, waiting as his fellow swordsman drew closer, not moving until he was mere inches from getting carved up. With the fishman so close, it should have been difficult to escape unscathed, however, Zoro weaved and flowed through the blades as if he had done it a million times before, not even looking the slightest bit worried as he did, hell he almost looked bored. As he did this it presented him a chance to perform one of his signature techniques, but he decided against it, merely giving the octopus man another three slashes to his torso as he bypassed him, there not being so much as a scratch on him after doing so.

As three more cuts appeared across his abdomen, blood seeping slowly from them, Hatchan turned to face his enemy, who now stood behind him. At first he appeared confused, most likely because the human combatant hadn't so much as sustained one injury after moving through the flurry of sword swings, but then he became angry, as he realized he had been cut again. "How dare you cut me like that! Now I'm mad! I'll kill ya bastard!"

"I already cut you before, what difference does it make now?" The eighteen year old asked.

Hatchan growled in anger at that. "Why you!" The octopus fishman brought all his swords together out in front of him then, their back edges all pointed inward toward each other, the blades all arranged in a circular array. "Way Of Six Swords: Octopus Pot Stance!"

"Nice guard, but what good is it if you bring it up before your enemy attacks?" Zoro questioned.

Hachi didn't bother to answer, beginning to run at him after he spoke. "New Year's!"

"An attack?" The green haired teen wondered, before proceeding to block the six blades from piercing his body with two of his own three blades.

"Open!" Hatchan broke his sword formation then, bringing all his swords away from in front of his chest, splaying his opponent's swords apart, leaving him completely open to attack. Said human opponent figured this out just a moment too late, "Crap!"

"Body Slam!" Hatchan thrust his whole body forward then, ramming his head into Zoro's chest as hard as he possibly could, knocking him off his feet and sending him flying several feet up and back, causing him to reach a good ten feet into the air, before coming down and crashing into the water below, making a decent splash as he did. His enemy now in the water, the octopus man followed, diving into the water, where he would have the advantage.

Once Zoro was submerged in water, he realized just how badly he had screwed up. No it wasn't that he had allowed his enemy to surprise him, it wasn't even that he had allowed a fishman to get him underwater where said fishman would have the advantage, no it was something far worse. When he hit the water, his grip on his blades had faltered for a moment and because of that the swords were now sinking to the ocean floor, leaving the swordsman without his weapons.

"I have to get them back quick!" He thought to himself, being careful not to let any of the air out he was keeping in by holding his breath. Going downward head first, he began to dive, swimming as fast as he could to get to them. He made pretty good headway, halfway down in only a few moments, then again, he did have very good upper body strength.

He would have gotten his swords back in just a few more moments, if it wasn't for Hatchan, who came speeding at him from the side, hitting with with slashes from all six of his blades before he could even try and defend himself, swimming off speedier than he had gotten to his enemy. Said slashes didn't cut too deep thankfully, but they did draw blood, the cuts ranging across the eighteen year old's upper body, two on one arm, two on the other and two more across the abdomen.

They hurt and it did get him to let a bit of his oxygen out, bubbles rising as the air was introduced to the water, but he kept his cool and stopped anymore from coming out, and while he did keep one eye on the fishman, there really wasn't much he could do, so he simply continued his descent toward his swords.

Hatchan didn't come for another round of slashes, instead going down to where the swords were, planting his feet firmly next to them, as he looked up at the human he was combating. Now in position, he began to spin his swords at a rapid pace, doing so for each blade a different way but making sure they all spun in the same direction. Only a few moments of doing this, he brought a mini-whirlpool into existence, right below the swordless swordsman. "Correction..." Zoro though to himself, "I'm in the middle of the whirlpool!"

The green haired man was spun about like crazy, his vision almost blurring from the speed of being revolved in such a way. "Sunuva bitch!" He cursed the octopus fishman in his mind, losing more of his precious air as it was all but sucked out of his lungs, the bubbles dissipating from being whirled around as well.

He wasn't in the whirlpool long, as it flung him further away from Arlong Park, a good twenty feet in the opposite direction of it in fact. And as the spinning came to an end and he was able to right himself, he noticed something. Now deeper into the sea away from Arlong Park, he saw the floor of the ocean was even further down, which meant if he didn't hurry up, it wouldn't be long before he was in the middle of the ocean with all the sea life and it would cause damage to his body for him to reach such underwater pressure. Considering his durability though, he'd probably be fine as long as he didn't get taken dwon there at a rapid pace. Either way, whether it was dangerous or not, Zoro didn't care, what he did care about though was that it would be a hassle. He needed to retrieve his swords and end this fight, and that would be harder to do the further away from Arlong Park he was.

Focusing on the objective at hand, he located his swords and began to swim down and toward them, moving just as fast as before, determined to get ahold of them. Hatchan noticed him making his second approach and quickly swam up at him, passing by him and giving him another good six slashes, more blood being released into the water. Despite being cut again, he kept moving this time, which the octopus quickly took note of. Turning down to face him, he swam down even faster, aiming to cut him up from behind. This time he managed to jerk his body out of the way just in time to avoid taking any more damage, though that only postponed the further attacks, but at least it kept any wounds or scars from being inflicted on his back.

He was close now, just a few more seconds and he could grab them. Hell, if it wasn't for the sheathes he carried on his waist he'd be swimming a bit faster and would already have the swords in his hands and, well, mouth. Those few seconds, the pink skinned fishman could make use of those few seconds, and he made sure to do so. He came back around again, inflicting another six slashes, speeding off and coming back round again, moving at top speed as he did and hit his fellow swordsman with even more slashes from his blades, releasing more blood into the water.

Once more Zoro didn't allow it to slow him down, taking the cuts without releasing any air, as he finally grabbed ahold of his swords. He had to let a bit more oxygen out to pop one into his mouth, before locking the other two in tight grips with his hands. Turning so he was facing upward, he began swimming, needing to get above water, to the surface, because he didn't have much air left. If he didn't hurry, he could black out from lack of oxygen, so he needed to hurry.

To complicate matters, Hachi was coming back around again. Zoro wasn't content to just take the hits or dodge this time, so as the octopus got in close, he proceeded to shove the blade of his Wado halfway into the fishman's shoulder, releasing more blood into the water as he sank half of the sword into his enemy's flesh, causing him to yelp in pain.

The green haired teen yanked the blade from his opponent's flesh, releasing more blood, before beginning to swim toward Arlong Park, going up at the same time so as to reach the surface as soon as possible, while Hatchan too swam, doing so away from his enemy and toward Arlong Park as well.

Sharks were approaching, all the blood having drawn them, but as they got close to Zoro, ready to take a bite out of him, he gave them one of the most frightening glares he could muster and they seemed to think better of it, simply because his eyes were like that of a predator, one they could tell was far greater than them.

While they swam away, looking for food elsewhere, Zoro finally broke through to the surface, beginning to take in deep breaths of life saving oxygen, well as deep of breaths as he could with a sword in his mouth, as he continued to move toward the edge of Arlong Park, so he could climb back up onto land.

He saw Hatchan reach the edge and climb up onto land a few moments before he did so himself, only now realizing that it was raining as it did. "When did it start raining?" He wondered to himself. It didn't really matter, he was already soaked as it was, though the rain might help wash the rest of the blood of him from the thirty slash marks across his front side, thankfully only one or two of them had any real depth.

"You sunuva bitch, you stabbed me in the shoulder!" Hatchan shouted in rage.

"No shit, you were just trying to kill me stupid. Why wouldn't I retaliate?" Zoro inquired, not even angered by the stupidity anymore.

"Oh, good point." Hatchan admitted, seemingly forgetting just how mad he was for a moment. It quickly came back to him though. "Why won't you just give up and die, there's no way you can win!"

"We'll see." He replied.

The octopus man growled at that. "Way Of Six Swords: Octopus Pot Stance!" He exclaimed, as he took the same position as before.

"This again?" The human combatant questioned.

Hachi ran at him like before then. "New Year's!"

"I can guarantee you, this won't play out the same way as last time." The green haired teen told the octopus, before proceeding to block the six blades from piercing his body with two of his swords.

"Open!" Hatchan broke his sword formation then, bringing all his swords away from in front of his chest, splaying his opponent's swords apart, leaving him completely open to attack. Said opponent not bothering to stop him from doing so.

"Body Slam!" Unlike like last time, when Hatchan threw his body forward for a headbutt, Zoro brought his right knee up to meet the fishman's face, slamming it into him full force, breaking his nose, causing blood to begin leaking from his nostrils, and causing him to reel back from the impact, shouting out in pain as he did. "OW!"

Stumbling back a few feet, he locked eyes with his fellow swordsman, his rage clear. "You asshole! You broke my nose!"

The pirate swordsman just blinked at that, wondering to himself as he did, "Is this guy really that stupid?"

Snarling in rage, Hatchan spoke up once more, "There's no way you'll survive my next attack! You've just gotten lucky so far, that's all! You'll never beat my six swords with your three, I have twice as many swords as you, don't you get it, six is more!"

He chuckled dryly at that, no real mirth in his voice as he did, his eyes hardening a tad. "Three swords...six swords...it doesn't matter. You may have more swords than me, but mine will always carry more weight than yours!" Zoro proclaimed with a fire in his eyes.

Silence reigned over the two for a few moments at that, Hatchan quirking a brow at those words, finally speaking as he did. "Weight you say? It may not look like it but my swords actually weigh quite a bit. Over three hundred pounds each to be exact. They weigh much more than your puny human swords." He explained, his rage all but evaporating as he did.

"I meant the burden-oh forget it." Zoro sighed in annoyance, not wanting to bother trying to explain to this moron what he meant.

Without warning, Hatchan attacked then. "Way Of Six Swords Ultimate Technique: Waltz Of The Six Swords!" The octopus fishman began to spin all six of his swords out in front of him in the same direction and the same way then, like a fan blade, moving them faster and faster until, to the normal human eye, they were nothing but a blur. As he did this, he dashed forward toward his human enemy, moving as fast as he possibly could. "You can't possibly survive this!"

Zoro didn't bother to respond, he simply took a specific stance with his blades before lunging forward and unleashing his signature technique. "Oni Giri!"

Hatchan stopped dead in his tracks as his fellow swordsman lunged past him, all six of his blades breaking in half, as three particular slash marks were carved into the pink skinned fishman's abdomen, blood seeping from them as he fell to his knees, barely keeping himself from collapsing onto the ground as he did.

There, on his knees, he began to pant, he couldn't take much more of this. Nevertheless, he forced himself to his feet and turned toward his human opponent. "Hachi won't...let you win. Arlong says fishmen are superior, they aren't ever supposed to lose. So I can't lose to you!" With that he reared back for a second, before he began spitting ink out his mouth like a fire hose. "Hachi Ink Jet!"

Zoro had turned to face his nonhuman enemy by then, and jumped to the side to avoid the blast of black ink, it colliding with the right wall near the gate, near covering it in said black ink. It seemed the octopus man had been expecting him to do this though, as he was charging him now, throwing each of his fists forward over and over again, faster and faster as he did, intent on pummeling the green haired swordsman. "Octopus Fritter Frenzy!"

Zoro met him head on once more though, spinning himself and his swords around for one full revolve, doing so with such force and speed, he was able to create a small human sized tornado with subtle dragon like features to it, that carved several slashes into his fishman opponent, while also taking him off his feet and forcing him several feet into the air. "Dragon Twister!"

It dissipated after a few moments and Hatchan came falling back down, hitting the cement with a loud, wet smack, the fishman groaning in pain as he did. "Defeated...by...three sword...style."

"So fish, now you finally understand the weight I carry in my three swords. You satisfied?" Zoro inquired, sheathing two of his blades as he did and turning to face his downed opponent.

Slowly, he walked over to Hatchan, his Wado still out, gripped in his left hand, as he came to a stop before the octopus man, now standing directly over him. "My Captain's orders were to show no mercy." He stated, letting the defeated swordsman know what he was about to do. He would have said what that meant quite bluntly, but the fishman seemed to understand what he meant by it. "Oh..." Was the octopus's only response.

"I'll make it quick." He reassured him, bringing his blade up as he prepared to strike down Hatchan with it. "Wait Zoro, don't!"

The green haired man stopped himself then, his sword having been coming down until that moment, the tip of the blade only a centimeter from piercing Hatchan's chest at that point. His eyes went to who had spoken, to see Nami. Her left arm was bandaged up and she was wearing Luffy's straw hat, other than that she looked the same as earlier.

She came over to him then, explaining why she had stopped him as she did. "Hachi isn't like the others, he never treated me cruelly. He never hit me or called me his property, he actually tried to cheer me up and make me feel welcome here. He doesn't deserve to die like this. Please, don't kill him." She implored the green haired swordsman, despite not actually begging.

Hachi couldn't help the tears that began to overflow and run down his face then, "Nami..."

Zoro didn't say anything to that, he simply sheathed his Wado Ichimonji, letting Hatchan know through actions that he wouldn't be taking his life this day.

**Zoro vs Hatchan**

**Winner: Zoro**

* * *

By the time Nami arrived, rain was pouring down, soaking everyone out in the open. Usopp wasn't far behind her either, approaching everyone.

When Usopp spoke her name in concern, she turned around and was happy to see he was okay. But she didn't bother to assure him that she was okay, as she turned back around and walked past the villagers of Cocoyashi, to the broken gates, where Johnny and Yosaku stood guard, Sanji also standing near them, since his battle was apparently over.

All the villagers spoke her name in concern when she showed up, Genzo, Nako and Nojiko were no exceptions, as they all wondered if she was okay. They were also worried about the bandages wrapped around her arm, all of them wondering what had happened to her.

"Nami, is everything alright?" Genzo questioned.

"What happened to your arm?" Nako inquired.

"Nami..." Was all Nojiko could honestly say in the presence of the orange haired teen.

"Nami, are you okay my dear?" Sanji asked sincerely upon seeing her.

"Nami, are you alright?" Usopp repeated his question from a moment ago.

"Big Sis?" Both Johnny and Yosaku questioned, wondering whether she was okay or not.

As another battle came to an end, she quickly tried to get through, though neither of the bounty hunters would let her do so. "Sorry Big Sis, but if you go in there you'll just get hurt. You need to-"

"Let me through, now!" She commanded, the two quickly obeying her as she did.

This allowed her to enter the compound and prevent Zoro from killing Hatchan, who was the only one of the fishmen who hadn't made her life a living hell, the octopus man having actually treated her with some decency and a bit of kindness.

With Zoro sheathing his only drawn blade, she knew that he would not take the fishman's life. "Thank you Zoro."

That's when her eyes wandered, looking for Luffy, wondering where he was. She had had just seen Usopp and Sanji outside the compound, and here was Zoro, so that only left the rubber idiot who had stolen her heart.

That's when she saw it. "Holy shit." She couldn't help but say this aloud, her eyes widening to the maximum, completely in disbelief at the sight before her. It was something she had never ever thought she would see in a million years, something she thought completely impossible, and yet, here it was, right before her very eyes.

* * *

With their crews facing off, that left Luffy and Arlong to go toe to toe without interruption.

"You can't honestly think you can kill me me. Nami has tried countless times, all to no avail. Assassination, poison, sneak attacks, anything and everything her devious little mind could think up and still nothing ever worked. What chance do you possibly have? You mere humans could never kill me, a mighty fishman!" Arlong proclaimed arrogantly, smirking his shark grin as he did.

"No holding back this time." Luffy said aloud to himself.

"What was that?" Arlong questioned, not catching what the teen had just said.

"I said I'm going to go all out." The hatless straw hat pirate answered, popping a crick in his neck as he did.

"All out you say? When exactly were you holding back? You haven't even fought yet." The shark fishman pointed out with a sneer.

"In the fights up till now, I've held back, as I worried that if I used all of my strength I'd needlessly kill someone." Luffy elaborated, images of what he did to the kids back in Fusha when he was a child and how he had broken Nami's wrist by just playing around with her flashing through his mind as he said this.

The nonhuman's sneer widened at that, "A pirate with a conscious huh? How ridiculous."

"It's been less than a month since my voyage began and someone is already trying to take one of my crew from me, so this time, I won't be holding back. This will be the first fight I go all out on." The raven haired man informed him.

"Is that bit of information supposed to intimidate me? You can't scare me boy. I am a fishman, I am superior to you in every way! The same goes for my entire species! You can't hope to beat a fishman you-"

Arlong was cut off, as Luffy rammed his fist into the side of the fishman's face, sending him straight to the ground, the blue skinned man hitting it with a loud thud, cracking the concrete a bit as he did.

Another bruise forming on his face, he got back to his feet again, annoyed but unperturbed by the strength behind the blow. "If that's all you have then-"

Before the sharp teeth having man could finish his sentence, he received another two blows from his younger opponent, said blows causing him to stumble. Taking advantage of that, the sixteen year old socked him in the side of his jaw, knocking him to the ground once more, while also shattering his teeth from the force of the impact, the cement ground cracking a bit more as the large nonhuman hit it.

As said teeth broke apart into nearly a hundred pieces, falling out of his mouth as they did, the sawshark man grunted loudly in pain. Sounds of disbelief could be heard from the villagers as this happened.

Arlong sat up, revealing his toothlessness as he smiled, "Don't get cocky you brat, this is nothing." With that said, his teeth grew back, this set replacing the broken original ones. "With every set of teeth I go through, they grow stronger and stronger. This is just one of many traits that we fishman possess that make us greater than you pathetic-"

"Would you just shut your mouth already!? I'm sick of hearing you talk!" Luffy exclaimed, as he delivered another powerful punch to the side of his enemy's head, knocking him back to the ground and shutting him up for the moment.

"Besides-" Luffy continued, "-this fight has nothing to do with fishmen and humans and which one is better or whatever. I'm fighting for Nami! I'm here to make you pay for what you've done to her! That's what this fight is about!"

"What I've done to her? And what exactly have I done that was so awful? I give her everything she needs, water, food, a place to sleep, money, a purpose. and all she has to do in return is draw up maps and charts. Just what is so bad about that?" Arlong inquired, his sneer having returned, as he climbed to his feet for the third time.

Luffy's anger morphed into rage then, the scowl he had been wearing growing, his eyes projecting the deepening of his anger just as well as the expression on his face did. "What about the fact that you've held her village hostage for eight years!? Or the fact you killed her mother, Bellemere!? And what about the fact that you've been lying to her and using her and treating her as if she was some kind of slave!? What about all of that huh!?" Luffy shouted at him, knocking him down to the ground again with another strong strike, cracking the ground a bit more as he did.

"A slave you say? You have no room to talk! It was your filthy, disgusting species that-" Arlong was on all fours, about halfway to getting back up, when Luffy shot his right arm forward and rammed his fist into the side of the blue skinned man's face once more, the force behind the punch causing it to break skin, first blood finally being drawn. The attack also caused his sentence to get cut off and for him to be knocked back to the ground once again. "Shut your face! I don't want to hear it!"

The shark fishman's eyes were wide in disbelief, as lying face down, he brought his left hand to his face, where he felt the wetness on his cheek and proceeded to bring it into his field of vision. When he saw that he was indeed bleeding, the last punch having indeed broken skin, blood slowly trickling down the nonhuman's face, his eyes managed to widen even further. "Impossible! Impossible! How could some weak human punk cause me to bleed!? I am a fishman! I am at the top of the food chain! No human opponent should be able to hurt me, let alone draw even a drop of my blood!" He thought vehemently to himself.

Attempting to get off the ground once more, the older of the two combatants got to his knees again, preparing to climb to his feet. Before he could though, the sole of his younger opponent's sandal was slammed into the side of his head, knocking it into the back wall of Arlong Park, causing it to violently crack in all directions for about ten inches.

The kick put his whole body against the wall, which was good for him, slightly anyway, because he had to use said stone construct to keep himself from falling back down onto the concrete ground. Using the wall for support turned out not to be the best idea, especially since his whole body was against it, because the young pirate shot forward with another kick to the head, ramming the fishman pirate's head through the wall, his upper body also slamming into the stone hard enough to break through, causing a small section of it to collapse on top of him.

Even though that was the case, the long haired nonhuman didn't get a second of reprieve, not even to lift the rubble off of him, as his short haired enemy grabbed him by the ankles and pulled him out of the destroyed section of the wall. Not even a moment after his eyes were greeted by what was around him, instead of the darkness of being covered in small pieces of stone, a fist was slammed into his face, causing the back of his head to ram back into the concrete, cracking it almost a dozen inches in every direction. This blow was also the first one to pull something from him besides boasts, grunts and shit talk, it caused him to yelp in pain for the first time in a long time.

Said yelp didn't appease Luffy, not in the slightest, as he grabbed his larger opponent by his nose and yanked him upward, pulling him off the ground as he shot his right knee forward, ramming it into his face as he pulled him into it, causing more damage than just a knee strike on it's own. Said assisted knee strike shattered the man's teeth for the second time, as well as causing him to begin bleeding from both corners of his mouth, a bit of red life liquid dribbling down to his chin from both of said corners.

Falling back onto the ground, the sawshark fishman accidentally ended up swallowing a few pieces of his broken teeth, not that it particularly mattered, but it did make him feel even more humiliation than he already did at the moment. Turning over so his face was adjacent to the ground, he made another attempt at getting to his feet, spitting out the remaining pieces of his shark teeth as he did.

By the time he got onto all fours, his teeth had regrown, but no later than a second after that, a fist was rammed into the back of his head, the momentum behind the punch smashing his face into the ground, his nose forced down into the concrete, the entire thing burrowed into said material. Even though that was the case, it did not soften the impact in the slightest, as the force of his face hitting the ground caused the cement to crack twelve inches in all directions before it gave some and morphed to the blue skinned nonhuman's face, sinking down a little. It also caused his teeth to shatter for the third time and for his head to bust open. He might have even screamed in pain from this, if it wasn't for the cement keeping anything coming from his mouth from being heard.

Once more the rubberman didn't allow his enemy even a moment of rest, as he reached down and grabbed ahold of the back of the older man's head and wrenched his nose out of the ground, yanking his head upward to do so. A small hole that could be seen through, the ocean the sight which would greet anyone who wanted to look, was what was left behind after the fishman and his saw like nose were pulled up from the ground, not to mention the indentation of his face in the cement.

The hatless straw hat pirate let go of the older man's head, allowing him to fall to the ground for the umpteenth time since this had began. He hit said ground with a light thump, groaning in pain after doing so. Said groan went on for a few moments, as he began trying to get to his feet once more, the groan turning into one of exertion. Unlike the last few times, his opponent allowed him to climb to his feet, once on his feet he turned to face said opponent.

Blood was running down his entire face, said sticky substance coming from his forehead, and he was panting a bit. He looked like he had just been in a bit of a nasty scuffle, though he had only been hit a dozen times, add the fact that he had yet to land a single blow to it and it was rather embarrassing, no, it was downright demeaning to the proud fishman.

"I won't allow you to humiliated me like this! I. AM. A. MIGHTY. F-" Arlong threw a strong left straight as he grew louder, but Luffy effortlessly caught it with his right hand, locking it down in a tight grip, as he cut the older pirate off. "A fishman? So what? What does it matter what species you are!? Something stupid like that shouldn't determine the value of someones life! Just because you aren't human doesn't mean you can treat people like you do! So cut all that fishman are better crap!" As Luffy stated this, he increased the strength of his grip until he crushed the fishman's hand, shattering all the bones in his fist, causing him to cry out in pain as he dropped to his knees, clutching at his human enemy's wrist, as if he had enough strength to force him to let go.

The nonhuman's attempts to dislodge the human's hand were numerous, but none attained the result he wished them too. In fact, at one point, he was just about pawing at him, the pain almost always continuous since the grip was constant, which caused his strength to ebb away.

Eventually, he could take no more. "Let...le-let...go. L-let g-go. P-plea-please, le-let go. "

Luffy didn't show the slightest bit of sympathy or compassion to the down on his knees pirate, said pirate practically begging at that point. The younger pirate remained stoned face, not caring that his opponent was in incredible pain at the moment. "This pain you're feeling, it's nothing, absolutely nothing compared to what you put her through. You're not getting off this easily. Now, stand up." His eyes were incredibly fierce as he ordered Arlong to do this.

Arlong did as he was told, even in spite of his nature, standing up despite the large amount of pain he was in, the look in the rubberman's eyes compelling him to do so. After he had though, he became sickened with himself. "Why am I obeying the order of a lowly human!? This filthy, disgusting piece of useless waste is beneath me, I am greater than him! I do not take orders, especially from a pitiful human! I am a powerful and proud fishman! I will not let this stand!" He was so convinced of fishmen superiority, he couldn't accept what was happening. His mind couldn't comprehend that there could be someone stronger than him who was human, especially not one who's nothing but a brat from the weakest of the Blues. In doing this, he blocked out the instances of being defeated by the Marines from his mind.

So he prepared to strike, his defiant nature returning. Just as he shot his head forward, to take a bite out of human, said human knocked him down hard, hitting him with a strong left hook while also letting go of his hand. The blow took him off his feet and put him on the ground once more, lying over dozens of cracks in the concrete.

From there the beating continued.

Punch. Kick. Knee Ram.

Smash. Bash. Crack.

Slug. Clobber. Bruise.

There were no shouts of attack names or stretching from Luffy, as he took his opponent apart with blow after blow, pulverizing him, no mercy given as he beat the shark fishman into the ground.

Straight Punch. Right Hook. Left Hook.

Pound. Pummel. Fracture.

Crash. Concuss. Break.

He didn't stop for even a moments rest, not allowing his enemy even a second of respite. Even when it began to rain there was no lull allowed in the assault on Arlong.

Jab. Strike. Slam.

Stomp. Pound. Crush.

Thrash. Snap. Shatter.

After several minutes, something finally managed to break Luffy from the trance he was seemingly in, to where he could see and hear nothing but his enemy, and that was these words. "Holy shit."

Even still, he didn't register who said them, hell he still wasn't aware that people were watching this fight, if you could call it that, so intently. What he was aware of though, was that it was raining, he was soaked, he was panting a bit and that despite the fact that his left fist, a good deal of his torso, most of his legs and his right arm from elbow on down were covered in blood, said red liquid dripping off his tightly clenched fists and onto the ground, he hadn't sustained a single injury. All the blood on him came from Arlong, who lie limp and broken in a pool of his own blood before the young man's feet, having been brutalized to the highest degree to where ninety eight percent of his body was caked, soaked and smothered in his own life liquid.

It was, quite frankly, a miracle he was even alive, let alone conscious, which he indeed was, even if it was barely. With the state he was in though, he did indeed look quite dead, which was why disbelief was more than warranted to anyone who lived under his rule when they saw him like this.

There was so much blood that it layered, making it thicker, which was why it washed away slower than it usually did. The rain was washing it away, just at a slower pace than normal. Because it was washing it away though, a mixture of blood and water began to form and trickle down toward the water gate of Arlong Park, toward the ocean.

Even still, despite the state the shark fishman was in, Luffy wasn't done with him yet. "Get up."

"Please...no more." Arlong rasped out, his entire body already wracked with agony, so much so that even a single twitch of movement sent shocks of severe pain throughout his entire body. "It hurts...all of it...everything hurts...so much...so please...please...no more." As he finished pleading with the younger pirate, a deafening silence washed over Arlong Park, no one daring to make a noise, the disbelief and shock making every villager as well as Nami deathly quiet.

Said silence lasted for several long moments that seemed to just drag on, before it was finally broken. "Get up." Luffy repeated himself, his eyes narrowing as he did, showing to everyone he didn't give a damn about the fishman's pleas.

Arlong couldn't keep the expression of shock mixed with some fear off his face at that, having hoped against hope that pleading with him would have worked. Nevertheless, he did still have a bit of his ego and defiance tucked away, that when mixed with his prejudice against humans, they urged him to get to his feet and show this brat his might. That plus the fact that the one who had brought him to this point of agony was telling him to get up, had him getting off the ground and onto all fours, and then onto just his knees, as he prepared to fully climb to his feet.

As he planted one foot on the ground and one hand on the knee of that same leg, his other hand pushing against the ground to help him get up, already more than halfway to his feet, his entire body shook horribly, the pain that wracked his form enough to kill a normal man a hundred times over. Just before he could actually lift his other leg and place his second foot on the ground, he received the sole of his human enemy's sandal in his face, as he was kicked hard in the face, knocking him over on to his back onto the ground for the countless time, yelping quite loud in pain as he did.

"Get up." The raven haired teen told the blue skinned nonhuman, saying the words for the third time.

The older of the combatant's eyes were on his opponent then, glaring at the rubberman, his anger having returned as he realized the human brat was taunting him, though his fear didn't fade. "Goddamn this human scum!"

Still, in spite of the anguish he was in, he did as he was told and began trying to get up off the ground. He got on to all fours once more, as he prepared to try and force himself to his feet. Before he could leave the all fours position however, the human pirate brought his right foot up and back down again, stomping on the shark fishman's back, the force of it slamming him back into the concrete, giving it another few cracks and causing him to cough up a to capacity mouthful of blood.

Rolling over onto his back, the captain of the Arlong Pirates began to pant heavily as he splayed his arms out to his sides, having been trying to hide at least one part of his exhaustion and it finally coming out. His eyes once more found their way to the one who was putting him through such torture, his anger still present though fading, as panic and fear began to overtake him. They were doing so because of a single reason, his life was hanging in the balance. He was a hair's away from death and it was all too obvious. And that frightened him a great deal.

"Get. Up." Luffy commanded, his tone much harsher than before.

Arlong was caught between trying to continue the fight, his pride and prejudice screaming at him to do so, or refusing the human's command, his defiance and ego screaming at him to do so. Either way, he was trying his very best to bury the fear and panic he felt, refusing to allow himself to fall into a frightened hysteria because of some pathetic human brat. "I won't lose to some human filth! I refuse! I can't die here, by his hand, I won't allow it! I AM ARLONG, A MIGHTY FISHMAN!"

With those thoughts raging in his head and a sudden burst of adrenaline, he tried to lunge upward, but before he even got fully off the ground, Luffy brought his right foot down hard, stomping on his right forearm with great strength, snapping part of his arm bone completely off from the rest of it, which caused him to slam back down onto the ground, as he released a scream of agony so loud it hurt some villagers ears.

He rolled onto his side and clutched just above the break with his other hand, while he grit his teeth as hard as he could to keep from screaming any further, the signs of nasty dark black bruise forming on the nonhuman's skin, said nonhuman only able to see it because the rain was washing the blood off him, though at a rather slow rate. And while he stared at the nasty break, he didn't dare move it, as he already knew the anguish that waited him if he did.

"Get up." Luffy ordered the fishman once more.

This time however, the shark man showed no signs of complying, cradling his broken arm as he tried to keep it together, his fear and panic rising to new heights.

"I said get up!" Luffy shouted, as he stomped on the older pirate's messed up arm, eliciting a cry of agony from said pirate, as he went into a state of half convulsions from the intense pain.

Luffy watched him as he convulsed, his eyes hard, almost dark, not so much as a shred of sympathy or empathy within. He held nothing but hate for this man, nothing less.

Once the fishman was still once more, the hatless straw hat pirate prepared to continue the deadly beating, but stopped as said fishman spoke up again. "Stop, please stop, I beg of you! I give up, you win, so for fuck's sake just stop!"

Luffy didn't seem affected by his enemy's begging, nevertheless he continued to do it, in hopes that he could get out of this alive. "If you let me live, I'll leave, I promise! I'll take my men and leave this island and I won't ever come back, I swear!"

Still no affect. In fact, Luffy was preparing for another strike, and judging from the look on his face, this next one would be the last, it would be the killing blow. Horrified at this prospect, Arlong reached the peak of his desperation. "NAMI'S YOURS!" He shouted at the top of the lungs.

Those words stopped the rubber pirate in his tracks, and seeing he had caught his attention, the sawshark man continued on. "That's what this is really about, isn't it? You want her for yourself right!? Well you can have her! As one pirate captain to another, I am giving you permission to take her, she is no longer a part of my crew, she's all yours! I relinquish all rights to her, alright!? She can navigate your ship or whatever you want, I don't care! Just please, I'm begging you, show mercy!"

"Mercy?" Luffy asked aloud, his head lowered as he did, stray locks of his raven hair blocking his eyes from view. "Mercy!?" He clenched his bloody fists so tight he almost drew his own blood, as his head shot up and the look of rage on his face intensified. "You killed Bellemere, what do you know about mercy!?" Luffy cried as he drove his fist down into Arlong's face, his nose ripping through the flesh of the rubberman's hand but that not stopping or even lowering the momentum of the blow, as it crashed into his face and rammed it down into the concrete, embedding his head into it and creating nearly another two dozen more lengthy cracks in the cement. Which caused his skull to crack violently and almost collapse under the strength of the strike and for his nose to break, it bending at an awkward angle, still damaged by the impact despite having pierced the fist it was caused by.

Silence...there was no sound coming from anywhere around aside from the sound of the heavy rainfall, not even the sound of breathing, not even from Arlong. His eyes had rolled back into his head, he was completely still and his chest lacked the rise and fall that signaled that a person was still alive, in other words, he looked dead.

Luffy yanked his fist back then, tearing the jagged nose out of his hand, it causing a bit more damage to him as he did, since it was bent at an angle and all. He spared one more glare for the fishman, before turning around to face Nami and Zoro, the only two inside the compound, excluding the dead bodies and Hatchan.

That changed as Sanji and Usopp entered Arlong Park, coming over to the other three. There were no words between them, only silence...no one sure of what to say at the moment, their minds all filled with thoughts of something different.

What none of them seemed to notice was that Arlong's hand was still twitching, a moment later his eyes returned to normal as he took in a lungful of air and let it out with a gasp, which was covered by the sound of the rain, the long haired nonhuman lucking out when it came to that. His eyes shot to and fro, as he tried to calm his racing heart, which was beating so hard and fast it was like it wanted to leap out of his chest. On top of that his mind was going a million miles an hour, filled with thoughts of hate, self loathing for lowering himself and groveling before that human, reassurance that it was all he could do to stay alive so he could kill him, humiliation that he had been so utterly defeated, wrecked like some kind of nobody and questions of what had happened with his fellow fishmen, his brothers.

That's when his eyes landed on the body of Kuroobi, lying there, hanging off the edge of the concrete, his hands in the water, a trail of blood showing where he had crawled from. It was obvious that he was dead, which caused Arlong's eyes to widen considerably.

He then found his eyes on Hatchan, who looked close to half dead, it being obvious in the shark man's mind that they hadn't gotten around to finishing him yet.

No matter where he looked he couldn't find Chu, which caused his stomach to drop.

His brothers...they were being killed off one by one...and he had done nothing to stop it, could do nothing to stop it.

Finally, his eyes found Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji.

They had yet to speak to each other, but stared at one and other intently. How long had they been doing so? Arlong wouldn't know, he couldn't tell seconds from minutes or hours at this point, he was nauseated, disoriented and in an incredible amount of agonizing pain, so he was fighting just to stay conscious.

As he stared at them, his thoughts wandered. "That straw hat Nami's wearing...it belongs to that brat she used to draw as a child...that punk...that's him...and he's..." And a memory he had long forgotten returned to the forefront of his mind.

* * *

_A Little Over Eight Years Ago..._

_Fishman Island_

_Arlong stood at the docks, watching as his crew boarded the ship, which would take them to the East Blue. Hatchan was speaking jovially with Kuroobi and Chu about something or other, as they helped load the ship, ushering their fellow fishmen onto it as well as they did. While watching his brothers get ready for departure, he thought over everything that had happened in his life that led him to this point. His Father abandoning him, growing up in the slums, otherwise known as the Fishman District, being exposed to human bigotry, sailing with his crew, joining Fisher Tiger's crew, their adventures together, picking up the slave girl, the ambush of Foolshout island...and Tiger's death._

_Then came his rage and need for revenge, which served to nearly kill him, as he came close to meeting his death at the hands of Vice Admiral Kizaru. Next came interrogation and imprisonment in Impel Down. He still wasn't entirely sure how many years he spent there, before Jimbei joined the Warlords and had him released. How enraged he was, that one of Tiger's closest companions could even dare to think about becoming a government dog, it sickened him. They came to blows over it, and as much as he hated to admit it to himself, he got his ass handed to him, showing just how strong the other fishman had become._

_Despite their differences, the two went their separate ways without killing each other, which led to now, where Arlong stood as he prepared to set out._

_There was one last thing though...his sister, well half sister, Sharley. A man, who claimed to be his Father, though he had no real way of telling whether that was true or not, had left her with him fifteen years ago, when he was just fifteen and she was only three. When he asked as to why she was so different from him, the man had told him that she was born to a different mother, before taking his leave._

_She did not share her brother's views on humans, fishmen superiority or anything at all actually, their opinions radically differed on just about everything, so they weren't exactly close. Nevertheless, Arlong knew it would be many years before he saw her again, so in spite of the fact that they weren't on the best of terms, he decided he should see her before he left. Especially since the last time he saw her, which was about a week ago, they had a huge fight, bigger than just about every other fight they had ever had before._

_Letting the others know he'd be right back, he left the docks._

* * *

_As Arlong arrived at where Sharley was staying, he sighed before opening the door and entering the building. Moving through a few rooms, he came to the back, where she sat. _

_"Brother." She greeted._

_"Sister." He returned the greeting._

_Neither spoke then, content to wait for the other to speak first. This wait lasted nearly an entire minute, before Arlong sighed once more, and spoke. "My crew and I have finished preparations. I just came to say goodbye." _

_"I see." Sharley said, acknowledging his effort. "Thank you, I appreciate it." She said evenly, if a bit stiffly, though a hint of kindness was in there too._

_"Good." He replied, before realizing he sounded a bit rude. "I mean...you're welcome."_

_It was a stiff, uncomfortable and somewhat awkward conversation and it had barely to begin, and yet, it was possibly their most civil conversation to date._

_After a few minutes, it came time for the older of the two to leave._

_As he turned to do so though, Sharley brought up the object of their giant fight a week ago. "Brother...please, heed my warning."_

_The blue skinned fishman nearly growled at that, turning back so as to face his younger, yet bigger, sister. "Must you bring that up!?"_

_"You must understand, my predictions are never wrong! You've seen the truth of this yourself!"_

_"Yeah well, you're wrong about this one alright!?" He shouted._

_"For once, could you please listen to someone else besides yourself!? I beg of you, please, do not face him!" She implored him._

_"How could you think me so weak!? I cannot lose to inferior trash like that, your vision was wrong!" He snarled at her. "Now, if you're done insulting me, I have a ship to get to!" He told her harshly, before turning to leave once more._

_"Please Brother, whatever you do, you must not face that man!" She insisted, even as he exited the establishment, slamming the door closed behind him as he did._

_A deathly silence hung thickly in the room, as Sharley was left alone. A dozen moments passed, before she reiterated the vision she had before, speaking as if Arlong was still there. "You will meet your end at the hands of a man wearing a straw hat. I have foreseen it. It will come to pass."_

_The beginnings of tears formed in her eyes, as she whispered beneath her breath, "Farewell...Brother."_

* * *

Arlong's eyes were wide as wide could be, terror flooding his body as he realized this brat was the one Sharley had spoken of. "This...this isn't possible! It's been eight years, her visions never come true that long after she has them! This has got to be some kind of mistake! It just isn't fucking possible! I can't die by the hands of some human brat from the East Blue! I won't! I refuse!"

His mind was dealing with a heavy storm of thoughts, as he came to a decision that he wouldn't have if he wasn't so damn desperate. "I...have to use it..."

Reaching into his sash, he pulled out a small steel tin he had tucked away in it, which was broken into pieces, having sustained damage during the beating he took. Nevertheless, he looked inside of every piece, until he found what he was looking for...a small white pill, only it was in pieces as well. He managed to find all the pieces however and popped them in his mouth, not bothering to chew as he swallowed them all down.

"I won't let that bastard get away with this, humiliating me, bringing me so close to death, killing my brothers, he will pay for it all!" It was then that the effects of the pill kicked in, as he felt his strength return and his muscles expand a little, increasing the size of his physique a bit. He didn't feel like his normal self anymore, he felt ten times better. "It's just as that sunuva bitch said, I feel ten times more powerful than before."

From there, Arlong's eyes locked onto the one who had put him down, as he tore his head out of the concrete and climbed to his feet, everything that had occurred this day racing through his head as he did. "He barged into my domain, killed my brothers, beat me down like a dog and broke my proud nose, ordered me around, and did what all humans do, act like they're so much better than all of us fishmen! I won't stand for it! The Arlong Empire will come to fruition and fishmen will rule this world! But for it to happen, I must lead! Which means I can't die, so he must die! And he will die! Because I am mightier than him! I am superior, for I am a fishman!" The blue skinned nonhuman thought frantically and hotly.

The sound of the ground cracking and crumbling as the captain of the Arlong Pirates tore his head out of it alerted the Strawhats, as they turned to face the man.

"YOU WRETCHED HUMAN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, A MIGHTY FISHMAN!?" Arlong roared, as he finally stood erect, the pupils of his eyes changing into slits, making his eyes resemble those of a Sea King, popping his nose back into it's proper place as he did.

"His eyes..." Nami whispered to herself, eyes wide with shock and terror. "I've never seen them like that before."

"AHH! He looks like a freaking Sea King!" Usopp shouted fearfully.

"Damn fish should know it's time to just give up and get cooked already." Sanji remarked, annoyed by the fishman.

Zoro remained quiet, though he did move to draw his Wado. Before he could though, Luffy stopped him, holding his arm out in front of him so he couldn't move on the shark man. "Take the others outside so they don't get caught up in this."

"Right." The swordsman acknowledged the order, sheathing his blade, which he had barely begun to draw, as he ushered the others outside of the compound, where the villagers all were with Johnny and Yosaku, dragging Hatchan along with him, so he didn't get killed.

Once it was just Luffy and Arlong, minus the deceased Kuroobi of course, the two stared each other down. Between the two, the rage could almost be physically felt, as the two hated each other more than anything else in the world at that moment.

"You had my brothers killed!" Arlong near shouted in anger.

"They deserved it for what they did to Nami." Luffy responded coldly. "And you deserve the same."

"What could you possibly know!? Every member of my crew is twice your age, they've experienced things you've never even imagined! You know nothing of what they and I have been through, you have absolutely no right to judge us, you human scum!" He spat venomously.

Luffy's eyes narrowed at that. "So what? It doesn't matter what happened to you and your crew, no matter how bad it was, it still doesn't give you the right to do what you've done. You enslaved a little girl, forcing her into a life of servitude under the same people who murdered her mother before her own eyes. You took away her mother and her freedom. And for what? Because of some money? You're a true monster."

Arlong snarled at that, before reaching into his mouth and ripping his teeth out of his own head, the things coming out entirely intact. As his teeth grew back, he repeated what he had just done, using his other hand this time, yanking his teeth out so they could regrow. When they did, that left him with three sets, one in his mouth and one in each hand. "Tooth Attack!"

Luffy ignored his slight fascination with this technique, as his anger overrid it.

With that the nonhuman lashed out, using his removed sets of teeth as weapons, doing so by clenching down on them and making them bite.

"YOU FILTHY, DISGUSTING PIECE OF TRASH! YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME AND MY BROTHERS!" The fishman cried, as he tried to pierce the rubber pirate's face with the right set of teeth.

Luffy swayed to the left to avoid the attack, having to sway to the right only a moment later as his opponent tried for the same with the left set.

"YOU COME INTO MY DOMAIN, ORDER ME AROUND LIKE SOME KIND OF DOG, DEMEAN AND BELITTLE ALL I HAVE DONE AND KILL MY BROTHERS! FOR THAT YOU WILL DIE BY MY HAND!" He yelled near the top of his lungs, as he came at his enemy faster, continuously trying to nail him with his removed teeth sets.

Sway left, sway right, sidestep, dodge right, dodge left. As Luffy avoided Arlong's Tooth Attack, it became apparent the shark man wouldn't be able to get the best of him this way. So, after the teen swayed out of the way again, instead of using one of the sets of teeth he had yanked out, he shot his neck forward and tried to take a bite out him, the young pirate quick stepping backward to avoid being chomped on, nearly slipping as he did, the ground slick from the bloody rainwater.

As the older of the two combatants tried to take advantage of this, he brought both sets of his removed teeth forward to clamp down on the rubberman. Said man made of rubber jumped to avoid them, only bothering to put enough strength in his legs to get him a few feet into the air, which the long haired nonhuman tried to take advantage of as well. Shooting his head forward, he tried to take a bite of him again. The hatless straw hat pirate grabbed him by his nose and used that as his handle so he could pull himself overhead of the blue skinned pirate, avoiding the teeth still in his mouth, as he went over him and came down behind him, landing on his feet without incident, having to let go of his enemy's rigid nose to do so.

This didn't deter Arlong, as he whirled around to face the human, beginning to come at him with all three sets of teeth once more.

Sway left, sway right, duck, dodge right, dodge left, quickstep backward, jump left, stop from slipping, jump right, sidestep, jump back, jump up, stop from slipping, backstep and stop. As Luffy came to a standstill, his larger enemy shot his right arm forward, the set of teeth his hand held snapping and ready to clamp down on him.

The smaller of the two combatants swayed to the left and caught ahold of the larger one, grabbing him by his right wrist with his left hand, locking it in a tight grip so he would have to work to get it out of his grasp. From there the rubber pirate brought his right hand up and took hold of the teeth the nonhuman held, one quick jerk removing them from his possession and placing them in his younger enemy's.

As he did this though, he was left open for the other set of teeth, which the blue skinned pirate quickly brought forward to use. Before he could cross his left arm with his right arm, which would allow the left set of teeth to get at the raven haired human, said human lifted the pirate's arm at just the right moment, causing him to sink the left set of teeth into his right arm, blood drawn from each hole in his arm because of each tooth.

With that Luffy used his right arm to bat his opponent's left one away, throwing his right arm away from him with the hold he had on it. This left the fishman open to attack, capitalizing on that, the sixteen year old gripped the shark's teeth like he had, only they were wide open, not ready to bite down and shot his right arm forward, burying the set of teeth into the pirate captain's chest, drawing blood as he did.

Neither sets of teeth seemed to cause much harm to the former Sun Pirate, as he was already bringing both arms back toward the rubber human, his hands open and ready to grab hold of him, looking to choke the teen to death.

Luffy, seeing this coming, acted. He brought his right hand up and caught the shark man's left arm, while he raised his left leg and kicked out at his right, his foot slamming into the set of teeth and forcing the sharp things deeper into the fishman's flesh as well as shattering them, also knocking the arm away. The next moment, he shoved Arlong's right arm away, before shooting his fist forward and ramming it into the set of the fishman's teeth in his chest, slamming them deep into his skin before they shattered, the shards cutting him up a bit more, causing him to grunt loudly in pain, blood beginning run from the chest wound as he did.

Arlong's newfound strength combined with his rage kept him from feeling most of the pain, which was why he didn't slow after his teeth cut him up, lunging forward with his neck just in time to catch ahold of Luffy, biting into his left arm, sinking his teeth deep into the teen's elbow, so deep he had ahold of the bone, which caused the sixteen year old to let out a cry of pain.

Luffy glared daggers at Arlong, looking into his eyes as he basically gnawed on his arm, trying to do as much damage as possible. Blood was running down his arm from the wound, which was sped up as it was washed off by rain water. But the blood flow quickly increased, as Luffy wasn't content with getting his arm ripped off, which it very well could if he wasn't careful, so he used the fishman's hold on his arm to his advantage, using his monstrous strength he proceeded to lift the larger pirate completely off the ground, bringing him overhead to the other side, before driving him down hard into the concrete, causing it to violently crack in several directions as the large body was embedded down into it. That combined with the previous damage this area of the ground had received from Arlong's beatdown, caused it to noticeable sink, becoming quite unstable as it was now several inches lower than the rest of Arlong Park.

Neither combatant seemed to care, as Arlong still had his teeth clamped down tight on the rubberman's left arm, while Luffy stood slightly crouched over the downed fishman, not worried in the slightest about the fact that he had just worsened the wound caused by the bite.

Seeing as the sawshark man still had ahold of his left arm, Luffy raised his right arm before bringing it down with great force, ramming his fist into the older pirate's chest, the impact of the blow causing the unstable part of the ground to shake somewhat, sinking a bit more because of the impact of flesh against flesh against concrete.

At this point Arlong was biting down so hard that his teeth began to crack, as he fought to keep his hold on his opponent's arm.

Luffy brought his arm back and shot it downward once more, slamming it down into the fishman's chest, the might behind the blow proving to be too much for both Arlong and the concrete below him, as his teeth popped out of his head and he coughed up blood, the ground beneath him finally gave way and broke off, falling down into the ocean, hitting the water and making quite a large splash.

As that near ten foot hunk of concrete sunk into the ocean, taking Arlong with it and causing blood to cover the surface of where he went under, Luffy stood up, having been just an inch from going down with it. He was panting a little, as he removed the set of his opponent's teeth that was buried in his left arm, all but yanking them out. More blood flowed down his arm as a result, not that he seemed to care, or even notice, as he took the bloody teeth and tossed them into the ocean.

It wasn't over, Luffy was aware of that, as he stood stock still, his eyes trained on the exact spot his opponent had submerged at. He was dealing with a fishman, water was their natural element after all.

Several moments passed as he waited, which allowed the rain to wash whatever blood that was still on him off, with the exception of the blood coming from his bite wound of course, as it continued to bleed.

Then Arlong came flying out of the water, completely free of blood and his teeth regrown, his arms at his sides and his body upward at an angle. His body moved with great momentum as it barely missed it's target, the young pirate who lept to the side to avoid being hit. "Shark Darts!"

He continued until he was nearly two dozen feet in the air, quickly coming back down because of a thing called gravity. Using that to his advantage, he turned himself around so he was facing downward, toward his opponent once again. "Shark Darts!"

With that he was racing down towards his target, and said target, seeing this coming, quickly threw himself backward, hitting the slick ground and sliding near a dozen feet before coming to a stop, nearly ramming into the walls near the gateless entrance as he did. It did the job of getting him out of harms way though, as when the fishman hit the concrete, nose first, the impact sent cracks of ten inch length in every direction, the point of contact giving a bit as well as breaking, as the nonhuman's nose tore through the cement and punctured through to the bottom. Once he removed his smelling appendage, there would be a hole that if you looked into, you could see the ocean.

Nearly slamming his head into the wall of Arlong Park near the gateless entrance wasn't ideal, but throwing himself back had prevented him from being impaled by that nose of the blue skinned man's, which was what had mattered at the moment. Then again it wouldn't have really done any damage, seeing as he was made of rubber, not that he was thinking about that as he got back to his feet, so as to not leave himself vulnerable.

Ripping his nose out of the ground, Arlong retrained his sights on Luffy, before using his hands and feet to push and kick himself off the ground and toward the young pirate, coming darting straight at him. "Shark Darts!"

Knowing it was best if he didn't get hit, the dark haired teen took a quick step forward and threw himself to the ground, breaking into a combat roll as he did, which allowed him to evade the attack while also putting him on his feet once more once the maneuver was complete. It had been risky, as he could have slipped, but he didn't need to worry about blunt force injuries or anything like a twisted ankle, thanks to his devil fruit ability, so it wasn't that bad of a call.

Missing his target for the third time, the captain of the Arlong Pirates rammed into the wall near the entrance to his compound, his nose embedding itself to the hilt inside it, sending numerous cracks along it. Recovering from his failed attack quickly, he heaved backward, removing his saw nose from the stone and using all four limbs to throw himself off of it and back toward his enemy, causing parts of it to break in the process, crumbling to the ground and damaging the wall greatly. "Shark Darts!"

Just as the rubberman turned around, his opponent was bounding toward him once again, which gave him very little time to dodge. He managed it anyway, as he jumped over the larger pirate, using enough strength to put him a good ten feet in the air, allowing the nonhuman to pass under him harmlessly, his momentum dying down after a few more moments and causing him to fall into the ocean once more.

Once Luffy landed back on his feet, he came over to where the concrete had broken off from, looking down into the ocean, intent on catching a glimpse of his opponent, who he knew would be coming back any moment.

Exactly as the the young pirate predicted, Arlong came shooting out of the water soon after, coming up with a cry of, "Shark Darts!"

Prepared for this, Luffy grabbed his right hand's fingers with his left hand and proceeded to stretch them out several inches in front of his face. "I'm ready for you this time bastard! Gum Gum Shield!"

Arlong collided with Luffy, his nose passing through the space of one of his stretched fingers and coming so close to piercing his face that there was merely an inch of distance between the sharp appendage and the rubberman's flesh. But while the young man did stop himself from getting skewered by that nose, he wasn't able to stop all the momentum his enemy had built up, which was so great that he was taken right off his feet when they collided, soaring upward to nearly fourty feet above Arlong Park, his fingers stretched over the fishman's face at that point.

Undeterred by this development, Luffy adapted, entwining his unstretched fingers with his stretched ones before stretching them both out to a much greater degree, making sure to keep ahold of Arlong by his nose as he did, since he had to pull his arms back and therefor the fishman. His fingers stretched several feet, entwining with one and other all the while, until when he was done stretching, his ten fingers had formed a net, which the blue skinned fishman was now trapped in. "Gum Gum Finger Net!"

From there, Luffy bent back before throwing himself forward along with his finger net, sending Arlong plummeting down toward the ground with a single heave. And when he hit, he did it hard, slamming down with a loud wet smack, sending dozens of cracks throughout the ground, also causing it to give as his body embedded itself somewhat into the concrete. It also caused him to yelp in pain, as a bit of blood flew out of his mouth.

Not done, Luffy put his feet together, bending his knees as he did, and shot them down toward the older combatant, stretching them to allow them to reach him. "Gum Gum Spear!" His feet rammed down into the sawshark man's gut, causing him to spit up some blood and for the ground to crack some more from the impact, as well as pushing his body a bit deeper into the cement.

Still not finished, the rubber teen shot his arms down, his fingers having already returned to normal size and to their normal non-entwined positions, and grabbed ahold of his opponent's arms. From there he snapped towards his arms, sending him hurtling head first down toward the sharp teeth having individual. "Gum Gum Rocket!" He crashed into the fishman head first, ramming his head into the nonhuman's solar plexus, causing him to hack up a large mouthful of blood and to gasp in pain since the air was knocked out of him, while the impact drove him even deeper into the concrete, riddled it with even more large cracks and caused that part of the ground to shake, becoming unstable from all the abuse it's taken, sinking a little as it did.

Luffy pulled himself off of the shark fishman, but didn't bother to give him a moment to pull himself together, as he kicked him hard in the side, cracking some of his ribs and knocking him over so his face was against the ground, which muffled his loud groan of pain. Then the young pirate captain backed up, taking several steps back so as to put space between him and the shark.

This allowed Arlong to work himself to his feet without interference, which meant he was able to get back to his feet in only a few moments. He did pause once he was on all fours though, his head over the water, just staring down at it for a few moments, thoughts running wild in his mind. These few moments allowed him to clear his mind however, and while that didn't take him out of the berserker mode he seemed to be in, what with those slitted eyes of his, it did allow him to calm down a little. Snapping out of it, he got up.

Once he was on his feet, he turned to face his human enemy, to see him holding his fists up in a fighting stance, showing he was ready to continue, the fierceness in his eyes not having faded even a bit. "Look at you, so sure you're the one winning. That's one of you humans biggest faults, your arrogance blinds you to the truth. You think this is a fight? This is no fight. I am a fishman, my strength, resilience, speed and skill far outmatch yours. To battle you would only be a waste of my time. I would crush you!" Arlong claimed with the utmost certainty.

Luffy didn't seem the slightest bit fazed, not so much as blinking at that claim. "Don't believe me?" He questioned with a bite, but did not recieve an answer.

"I'll prove it to you." With that said, Arlong brought his right arm back, which was covered in rain water, his palm open. He kept it there, as he continued to speak, "You see, I don't even have to lay a finger on you. You humans are so fragile that I can kill you just by playing around with a little water. That's the difference between you and me. Now here, see for yourself!"

With that Arlong shot his right arm forward, looking like he was swatting at something. In doing so, using the massive strength that he attained thanks to the drug he took, he sent all the water droplets that had been on his arm soaring toward Luffy, which quickly converted into deadly arrows though mere kinetic force. "Shark Arrows!"

Luffy's eyes widened as he realized he had no time to dodge, crossing his arms in an x in front of his face, to protect his head from the damage to come. Just as he did, the water arrows hit, a dozen of them drilling into his body, six into his torso, four into his legs and two into his arms, the water ripping and tearing through his flesh until they emerged out the other side of him, where they returned to their original forms and hit the ground. The rest of the water shots that had been sent flying had all hit the building behind the rubberman, piercing through the stone and riddling the pride and joy of Arlong Park, the tower, with holes.

Despite the twelve holes in his body, all of which had blood flowing from them, running down his clothes and skin, Luffy was still on his feet. And as he lowered his arms, he made eye contact with the sawshark man, a scowl on his face as he did. In spite of the pain that wracked his body from that attack, the young pirate had refused to voice it, not giving his opponent the satisfaction. However, as he tried to take a step forward, blood spurt from his mouth and he lost stability, nearly collapsing face first into the ground, the teen catching himself before he could, his hands slamming into the concrete to prevent it, his knees following suit, all of them embedding themselves a few inches into the cement as they did, creating even more cracks in it.

Down on all fours, his face adjacent to the blood he had just spat up, the young man looked like he was bowing or groveling, which made Arlong sneer wickedly. "You see, this outcome was predetermined. We fishmen have been on an entirely different level than you pathetic humans since the beginning of time. You are inferior, it only makes sense for you to bow before us. You're so weak, your presence on this planet is deplorable. Don't you think your time on this planet has come to an end?" He questioned rhetorically, quite smug as he did.

"No, I don't." The young man answered bluntly. "My time on this planet has only just begun you see, because I...I am the man who'll be King of the Pirates!" He proclaimed with absolute conviction.

"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" The fishman laughed. "Don't be foolish, a puny human like you couldn't possibly conquer the Grand Line." He stated as if fact.

Luffy didn't respond this time, as he tried to get to his feet, going for the right one first only to almost slip before he could try the other one. This put him on one knee, with his other leg stretched out against the ground, only the left side actually against it.

Seeing this caused the blue skinned nonhuman to begin laughing once more. "Ahahahahahahahaha! Look at you human, you can't even get to your feet! Ahahahahahahahaha!"

The ground was covered in bloodied rain water, not all of it streaming down to the water gate and into the ocean. This made the ground very slick, which was why, injured as he was, the teenage pirate was having difficulty getting his footing. Nevertheless, he wasn't deterred, as he took a few deep breaths, before forcing himself to his left foot, using his hands to force himself up, sliding his right leg back over to him as he righted it, breaking into an impromptu run as he did.

Overconfident in his abilities, Arlong made no move to stop his enemy.

Even though it was only ten feet to the sawshark man, Luffy didn't hold back very much on his leg strength, near embedding his feet into the ground with every time they made contact with it. He nearly lost his footing halfway there, slipping and having to catch himself, so as to prevent himself from falling to the ground. He did so successfully, continuing his short dash towards his opponent, cocking his right arm back as he neared him. Finally close enough, he lunged forward, shooting his right arm forward as he did.

Arlong brought his webbed hand down and attempted to catch the fist, grinning a large shark grin as he did. Only, when the fist made contact with his palm, instead of it stopping the punch, the momentum behind the attack drove his own hand back and into his gut with tremendous force, causing him to nearly double over as he hocked up a large mouthful of blood.

Not stopping there, Luffy pulled his fist back, as he stepped past the long haired fishman, before turning and grabbing him by the back of his head. From there, he proceeded to force him downward, ramming him face first into the ground, burying his nose in the concrete and making the ground even more unstable, it shaking a bit as it sunk a few more inches, and then of course there were the dozen new cracks from the impact of the fishman's face against the cement.

Stumbling back, the hatless straw hat pirate almost fell into the ocean, having to stop himself from doing so and right his position, placing both feet firmly back on the ground. Once steady, he moved forward toward his opponent, who was already on his knees, having torn his nose out of the ground and began getting up a moment ago, and kicked him hard in the back, knocking him back to the ground and causing him the slide forward several feet.

That done, Luffy took a few steps back, as he shot his right arm back, his fist sideways as he stretched out his arm. And as he stretched out his arm, he broke into a run, heading straight for his fish like enemy, who was on all fours, facing the rubber teen.

His arm lengthened to a good twenty feet before stopping, though even as it did, he didn't, rushing toward the captain of the Arlong Pirates. Only a moment from reaching him, he snapped his arm back, causing it to come careening toward the long nosed shark. Both Luffy and his fist reached him at the same time, the sawshark on his knees, the rubberman's fist slamming into the fishman's chest with great force. "Gum Gum Bullet!" The strong blow caused blood to fly from his mouth as he was knocked straight back into the tower of Arlong Park, breaking through the wall and hitting the floor of the first floor.

Shortly after, Arlong emerged from the building, breaking a bit more of the stone wall of the first floor as he did. And when he came out, he was a wielding a large black saw like blade. It looked very dangerous, not to mention it was as big as the fishman himself. "I've had enough!"

"The Saw Blade!" Nami gasped upon seeing it.

"YOU FUCKING HUMAN TRASH! I WILL END YOU WITH THIS BLADE!" With that exclamation, Arlong lunged forward with a mighty swing.

In an effort to avoid being cleaved in half, Luffy threw himself to the right, hitting the ground and rolling to cover more distance, stopping at the wall on the right side of the entrance before standing.

Undettered, the sawshark fishman broke into a spin with the sword, the blunt side of it leading the way, as he lept over to his opponent, moving much more gracefully than one would expect him to.

He fell short of reaching the younger combatant, though that turned our to be on purpose, as he came to a stop and righted his position, before coming at the teen with another mighty swing. Which he ducked under, saving himself as the stone wall was sliced in half, though not cleanly, jagged marks and extra broken stone very much present as it happened.

Almost all of the villagers let out frightened gasps as the Saw Blade nearly came at them as well.

Pulling back, the jagged nosed fishman brought the blade upward before bringing it down, aiming to cut this rubber pest in half. Said rubber being avoided being hit however, as he tumbled between the nonhuman's legs, which caused the Saw Blade to carve into the ground, sending cracks all along the cement. Even more were created as the thirty something year old yanked the saw blades of the sword out of the ground, which had embedded themselves somewhat.

Coming out behind the enraged shark didn't grant the pirate teen more than a second of time, as he whirled around swinging, which forced the sixteen year old to jump over the weapon to evade any damage. The blade cut right through the other stone wall by the gateless entrance, what was left of it after Arlong had collided with it earlier anyway.

For the second time, the sawshark fishman brought the blade over head and brought it down, still trying to cut up the other combatant. Just like the other times though, the young pirate captain dodged, having landed back on the ground before the blade could get him and jumping to his right to avoid it again. It's saw like blades embedded themselves in the concrete once more, sending cracks all along it as they did. And just as before, when they were ripped out of the ground, it simply damaged it more, creating more cracks in the hard material.

Having avoided the large blade once again, Luffy took a couple of quick steps back, just in case his enemy came at him again and got farther than he was supposed to.

Unlike the last few times, when Arlong turned to face his younger opponent, he didn't go straight for him. Instead, he took hold of his blade with both hands, locking his hold on the grip tight, before placing it directly in front of him, holding it straight upward as he did. "You won't survive this next attack human!" With that statement, he kicked off the ground as he leaned forward, sending himself shooting forward toward the raven haired teenager, looking like he was using Shark Darts. However, unlike Shark Darts, he began spinning mid-air, revolving faster and faster every nano second, until he was whirling around so fast that the sound of the blades of his sword going against the wind sounded like a buzzsaw. "Shark Shredder!" With the blades facing outward, this technique turned Arlong into a faux living buzzsaw, looking like one to.

Upon seeing this darting at him, Luffy's eyes widened considerably, before his body kicked into action. Just as it reached him, the young man leaned back, placing his hands against the ground as he did to keep himself stable, and got as low down to the ground as he could like that. And while it did allow him to avoid the brunt of the attack, the spinning blades of the Saw Blade were still able to reach him enough to give him several slash marks across his body, a few on his legs and a few on his abdomen, tearing up his vest some, cut marks in addition to holes from that water arrow attack in it.

Once the shark man had fully passed over him, the rubberman stood back up, before turning to face the still spinning nonhuman, jumping back several feet as he did. "That was close." He remarked to himself.

As Arlong came to a stop, his spinning ending as he landed on his feet at the edge of where the concrete had broken off from Arlong Park and fallen into the ocean, he turned to face his rubber enemy, scowling as he did. "You must be the luckiest sunuva bitch in the East Blue! No matter though, this time I will hit my mark, don't doubt that you human scum!" With that said, he performed the attack once more, shooting toward the human combatant, spinning like crazy as he did. "Shark Shredder!"

Luffy prepared to dodge, but just before he did, he realized where he as standing. Turning his head so he could see behind him, Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Johnny, Yosaku, Nojiko, Genzo, Nako and the rest of the villagers were right there. If he moved, it would be them that met their end. Even if Zoro could stop the attack, which he had a chance of being able to do, it was too big a risk, especially since there would be casualties whether the swordsman could stop it or not, and the chance that one of those casualties could be one of his friends, or heaven forbid, Nami or even Zoro himself since he would try and take the damage to protect everyone... "No, I refuse to take that chance."

His choice made, Luffy turned his head back to stare at the oncoming fishman buzzsaw, only moments away from colliding with him. Taking a step forward, he threw his arms out in front of him as he met the whirling shark, his hands finding his shoulders and latching onto them tight, the blades of the Saw Blade ripping into him as he did, tearing up his vest and shorts, as well as his torso, legs and arms, carving deep gashes into his body with every passing moment. His teeth grit, he hissed in pain as he stood there and endured, blood flying everywhere, splashing onto the ground all around him as well as just a bit of it landing in front of the ones he was trying to protect.

"Luffy! NO!" Nojiko screamed, shocked and frightened by what she was seeing.

"BIG BRO LUFFY!" Johnny and Yosaku yelled, nearing tears as they did.

"LUFFY!" Usopp and Sanji shouted, worried greatly for their friend and captain.

"LUFFY!" Zoro exclaimed, his concern flowing off him in waves.

"LUFFY!" Nami cried, her eyes as wide as could be, horrified by the sight before her.

Luffy held tight to Arong's shoulders even as the pain turned to agony, and in doing so, he was rewarded as he eventually forced the fishman to stop spinning, rendering him nowhere near as dangerous as before.

Arlong's eyes were very wide in shock and disbelief, completely taken off guard by this, never having thought anyone capable of taking this attack head on. Before he could comprehend this, or digest it, hell, before his feet even touched the ground, Luffy let go of his right shoulder and brought his right arm back and proceeded to shoot it forward, ramming his fist into the sawshark fishman's face, the strength behind the blow sending him flying two dozen feet back, knocking him into the ocean once more.

Blood covered Luffy's body as he slumped forward, nearly falling face first onto the ground, managing to catch himself before he did and force himself to stand back up. He was covered in wounds that all bled profusely, but he had no time for pain or rest, this battle wasn't over yet. So, he walked forward, moving to the middle of Arlong Park.

Not long after, Arlong jumped out of the ocean, landing firmly on his feet on the concrete, the Saw Blade still firmly in his grasp. His slitted eyes were now severely bloodshot, as his grip on sanity became very loose, his rage at it's peak, he had lost it. "YOU!" He cried. "I REFUSE TO LET YOU MAKE A FOOL OUT OF ME ANY FURTHER! I WILL TEAR YOU APART! I WILL KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME!? YOU WILL DIE!" With that, he lunged forward, bringing the Saw Blade overhead and downward as he did.

Dodging to the side, the rubberman thought he would have at least a moment of reprieve so he could prepare to evade further. However, that wasn't the case. For as soon as his feet touched the ground, Arlong had turned and flipped forward, bringing the saw blade overhead with him. Jumping onto the second floor, that should have given him at least half a second, and yet it did not, as Arlong brought the blade up at him, flipping upward as he did. So the sixteen year old lept to third floor, only for the sawshark to continue his pursuit restlessly, coming up as well. To the fourth floor the young man went and to the fourth floor did the fishman follow. Finally they reached the fifth and final floor, and as Arlong came up at him, Luffy was left with no choice but to throw himself through the window, having to go inside to avoid being skewered by those saw liked blades.

And as Arlong climbed through the now broken window, all the villagers were left to marvel at all the damage he had done to his tower and his already unstable ground outside in his chasing of the rubber sixteen year old.

Once inside the tower, Arlong located his opponent.

Luffy sat on the floor, his eyes wandering about the room, which was filled with maps, charts and books. A globe, desk and bookshelves littered the room. There were writing utensils, protractors and a bunch of other stuff the young man didn't know the name of as well. His eyes continued to wander, even as Arlong leveled the Saw Blade against him, all but resting it on his left shoulder, his head between two of the saw like blades of the sword. "There's nowhere else to run. You and me, here, in the highest level of Arlong Park. At last, the time of your death has come." His rage was still present, but he had lulled himself into a sense of superiority and dominance once again, so was calmer.

"This room..." Luffy muttered to himself, as he figured out who it belonged to.

"This isn't just any room, this is the room where I make Nami draw all of my sea charts for me." Arlong explained. "These sea charts are what she's worked on all these years. Just look around you, these maps are more valuable than any amount of treasure. You see, to us fishman collecting data about the ocean is a simple affair. But assembling that raw information into a useful chart is a difficult task. That's why we needed a surveyor. In fact that is the sole reason I am so keen on keeping that woman in my possession. She is absolutely brilliant. The accuracy of her charts is beyond comparison. She's too good for human trash like you. Her talent should be used solely for building up the might of the Arlong Empire!" He lifted his hands as he said this, taking the blade away from his opponent as he gestured to what was around him.

Luffy didn't respond, though his scowl did grow deeper, his eyes darkening and hardening.

"Now listen, Nami belongs to me. And you're interfering in our business, you human scum. She's not your anything, your lover, your friend or your navigator, she is mine!" Arlong proclaimed egotistically.

"Nami is my navigator." Luffy stated matter of factly, his voice low and dangerous.

"You really want her to navigate for a pathetic excuse for a captain like you? I guess you truly have no idea what a monumental waste of talent that would be. Look, there is no one else on the face of the planet that can draw sea charts with such accuracy and efficiency. That young lady has a gift. And there really isn't anything as ultimately regrettable as wasting natural talent. Staying here and drawing up sea charts for me is her only chance at living up to her full potential. In order for me to obtain world supremacy, her sea charts are absolutely vital. She will continue drawing her sea charts for my own ambitions. And once her charts give me full knowledge of all the worlds oceans, we fishmen will be totally invincible, and the world, shall kneel before us. The first step is this island, and then we'll move onto the whole East Blue."

As Arlong began to monologue, the sound of something hitting the floor caught Luffy's attention. His eyes wandered over to the object, as it rolled toward him, said object in question turning out to be a blood stained pen. Knowing it was Nami's, the young man felt a pull from the pen, so he picked it up. He brought it up close, so as to examine it, in doing so all sound fell away, as he blocked it out. "This pen...is stained in blood." He said ever so faintly, as if just realizing who's blood it was.

Something happened then, as he lifted his eyes from the pen to the desk it had rolled off of, he saw a ghostly image, that as he focused, became clearer.

_An eight year old Nami sat at her desk, using her pen to draw something._

_Arlong approached her from behind without her knowledge, and as he came to stand behind her, looking over her at what she was doing, he became angered. He yanked the piece of paper off the desk, presenting it to her as if she didn't know what she had been drawing, as he reprimanded her. "What the hell is this!? You're supposed to be drawing a chart! Is this what you do in secret!? Draw these pieces of trash!?"_

_Tears building in her eyes, Nami reached for the drawing, only to have it pulled out of her grasp. "Please give it back!"_

_The fishman promptly tore it in half then, letting the pieces fall to the ground. And as the young girl began to cry, he grabbed her by the back of the head and proceeded to ram her head into her desk, busting her head open, causing blood to begin flowing down her face and onto the wooden desk, as well as causing her to scream in pain._

_Yanking her back by her hair, he wiped the blood off the desk and placed another piece of chart paper down. Then he grabbed her right hand and forced her to take a tight grip on her pen, so tight in fact that her hand began to bleed. He forced her to put the pen to paper, as he near shouted at her. "You are to draw maps and charts! Not stupid pictures! If I catch you drawing another one, I'll take you to the village and let you choose who'll take the punishment in your place! And I promise you, they won't survive! And when I run out of them, I'll hunt down this boy in the picture and kill him too! Now get to work!" With that he let go, turned around and left the room, slamming the door shut behind him as he did._

_Nami cried her eyes out, as she did as she was told, drawing through hazy vision and pain, not even bothering to clean the blood off her face or hand, knowing it would only get her into further trouble._

It would be a long time before Luffy understood how he saw this, but right now, all he could focus on was what he had seen, not how he saw it. His rage was at an all time high, he had only ever been this angry once before, and that was the Bluejam incident. And yet, he didn't act, he bottled it up, not wanting to let it out yet. He would choose when it came out, and it wasn't time yet. But it would come out, and when it did...

"Now do you understand!? You could never use her like me, she would be wasted on you!" Arlong's voice rang in his ears, the sound of it reaching him once more. With that, the sawshark fishman leveled the blade at the rubberman once more, his head between two of the blades, just centimeters from touching his flesh.

Luffy dropped the pen back to the ground, before using the now empty hand to grab ahold of one of the saw like blades of the Saw Blade, more specifically the one that was at his throat, as he lowered his head so he was looking at the ground.

"She has her place and it's here beside me. Can't you understand that? I can give her everything she needs. And the only thing she has to do is continue drawing those marvelous charts for me. So Nami will forever be my tool, no my property, she is mine, I will own her for eternity! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

That was it, Luffy had finally had enough. As Arlong tried to pull the Saw Blade back so he could render his opponent's head from his shoulders, he found that he couldn't. He pulled and pulled but it just wouldn't budge, even as he used his maximum strength. So he looked down at the problem, to see the younger pirate had a hold on the middle blade and was keeping it from being moved.

"Tool!? Property!? OWN HER!? Just what the fuck do you take her for!?" Luffy questioned, his grip becoming so tight on the blade that it shattered into dozens of pieces, his head shooting up so he could make eye contact with his enemy as it did. And as he did, Arlong saw a look of pure fury on the young man's face, one that he had never worn before. Even more than that, a red glow emanated from the center of each of his pupils, said glow fading only a moment later but sending a terrifying shiver down Arlong's spine regardless.

"Tha-that was Conqueror's Haki!" The fishman thought with incredulity, as he stumbled back with Saw Blade in-hand.

As Luffy stood up, his arms from elbow on down slowly turned pitch black, beginning at his fingertips and stretching on up, until it coated the entire bottom half of his arms. "YOU DO NOT OWN HER!" He cried, as he rammed his fist into Arlong's gut with such force, that it caused him to double over and vomit blood, dropping his Saw Blade to the ground as he did. "That's Armament Haki! Ho-how the hell is this possible!? How could some no name human brat from the East Blue possess Haki!?" He wondered to himself frantically and fearfully, completely disbelieving of what was happening.

"She's not some property to be owned! She isn't a tool to be used and thrown away either!" Luffy stated, as he brought his right arm up and back down again, ramming his elbow into the back of Arlong's neck, sending him face first to the floor, hard, cracking the stone from the force of the impact. The blow also had the fishman spitting up blood.

"She's a living, breathing person! She is my friend and she's special to me!" He continued, as he brought his left foot up and then down, stomping on the shark man's back with great strength, the impact causing the blue skinned nonhuman to arch his back to a severe degree, as he coughed up some more blood, the force of the attack badly fracturing all of his ribs. A gasp of pain also forced it's way out of his esophagus because of the pain.

"She is my navigator! And I won't let you take her from me!" Luffy proclaimed, before using his right foot to stomp on the sawshark's head, driving his face into the floor and his nose through the stone, sending cracks along the entire thing in the process.

With Arlong down, Luffy turned his attention to his surroundings, his fury not even close to being doused. This room, this entire compound, it sickened him, he wanted it all gone, it had to disappear, so Nami would never have to see any of it ever again.

So he acted. He stepped up to a long wooden table, nearly a hundred charts sitting atop of it. Grabbing it with both hands, he cracked the wood with his grip before flipping the construct over against the stone wall, the force of the the throw causing the table to break right through and go falling to the ground outside, where it would surely shatter.

Turning his attention to the bookshelves, he went to the end of the row of them, before shoving the one at the end forward into the others, knocking one over, which in turned knocked another over and continued until they all toppled over, the one at the end of the line breaking through the stone wall, beginning to hang halfway out the building, teetering on the edge, close to falling out. The rubberman leaned down then and shoved the first fallen bookshelf into the others, the might behind that single heave caused that bookshelf to knock all the other ones out of the building, where they went plummeting to the ground outside, that single bookshelf sliding out after them.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" Arlong shouted, after having pulled his nose out of the stone and his face off the floor.

Ignoring him completely, the young man came to another two long tables then, both stacked high with maps and sea charts. Lifting them with one hand each, he tossed them, sending them through the stone walls and racing toward the cement outside, where they would slam down and break into several pieces each.

On his knees now, Arlong grabbed hold of the Saw Blade and forced himself to his feet. "Goddamn you! That's eight years worth of work, eight years of planning and ambition!" He screamed with rage, as he charged the smaller combatant and used all his strength for the mightiest slash he could summon.

To the fishman's complete and utter shock and horror however, Luffy, who turned to face him, caught the Saw Blade effortlessly with his left hand, killing the momentum of the swing instantly, the fire in his eyes at the point of all consuming. "For Nami all this place represents is eight years worth of pain and suffering, this place is her own personal hell! So I'm going tear it all down!" With a single squeeze of his left hand, the young pirate captain tightened his grip to such a degree, that the Saw Blade broke in half, which caused the fishman who wielded it to stumble back in surprise.

Having no need for it, Luffy tossed the half of the Saw Blade he held out one of the windows, shattering it in doing so. The next moment, he had closed the distance between him and the shark, shooting his knee up and ramming it into the larger pirate's abdomen, causing him to hunch over and hock up some blood. From there he slammed his other knee into the long haired fishman's jaw, fracturing it and knocking him back onto the floor, on to his back, the blue skinned man losing hold of what was left of the Saw Blade as he did.

Stepping over him, the sixteen year old delivered a single, swift blow to the nonhuman's face, sending many cracks alongside the left side of his skull from the impact of the Haki coated punch. With that, Arlong looked out of it, his eyes rolled back into his head once more, blood actually seeming to come out of his left eye because of the powerful attack.

His attention shifted to Nami's accursed desk then, walking over to it, but not bothering to turn and face it. Shooting his right leg out without stretching it, he kicked it hard, sending it through the stone wall and crashing to the concrete ground below, where it shattered into pieces, the papers that were inside of it scattering to the wind.

Somehow, despite not looking at him, Luffy just knew Arlong was conscious, struggling to get to his feet behind him. He could just sense it. "Nami hates and fears you...so-" Whirling to face the fishman, their eyes met, as the young man finished his proclamation."I will destroy you and everything else in this world like you!" He almost looked like a demon, what with that terrifyingly furious expression on his face.

Luffy kicked his right leg up then, it stretching to reach it's target, as it punched through the roof, creating a decent sized hole in the stone. "Gum Gum Volcano!" His leg snapped back to him then, returning to it's original length. From there, he kicked off the ground, launching himself upward, where he went through the hole in the ceiling and went soaring high into the air.

Arlong, who was on his knees at that point, snarled in rage, his slitted eyes almost consumed in red from how bloodshot they were. "I...I-I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN! HAKI OR NO HAKI, THIS BRAT WILL NOT STOP THE ARLONG EMPIRE FROM BEING BORN! FISHMAN WILL REIGN SUPREME!" Forcing himself to his feet in spite of the pain, he moved forward to where he was just under the hole in the roof. Looking up, there he saw the rubber pirate, high in the air. "WE FINISH THIS NOW, YOU HUMAN SCUM!" He cried.

Opening his mouth as wide as he possibly could, his body began to spin wildly and violently, as if he was performing Shark Shredder again. Before he used all his strength to kick off the ground and go shooting upward toward his younger opponent. "SHARK TOOTH DRILL!"

Luffy was nearly twenty feet above Arlong Park Tower, adjacent to the ground, as Arlong came shooting up at him. He punched forward with his right arm, then his left, then his right, then his left, his speed increasing with each punch as well as the length he stretched it to, even though they only hit air. That quickly changed, as Arlong got too close, Luffy smashed his face in with a strong right, shattering his nose and making it bend and crinkle at an awkward angle, also knocking him to where his back was facing toward the ground.

A second blow followed afterward, his left fist slamming into the shark man's chest, a third to the solar plexus, a fourth to the shoulder, a fifth to the gut. It was at that point that Luffy began throwing blows so fast that his arms almost became a blur, anyone skilled enough to keep up with his punches would see it as if he had a lot more than two arms, that was how much speed he had built up. "GUM GUM GATLING!" He cried, as he began to unleash his fury through a barrage of fists, all of which crashed into the fishman with all the young pirate's might behind each and every single one.

Arlong was bombarded with a storm of blows, all of which shattered bones and ruptured internal organs, the things coming so fast he didn't even have enough time to wail in the agony that was wracking his body. Said agony only increased, as the brutal assault continuously forced him downward at an ever increasing speed, until he slammed into the roof of Arlong Park Tower, where he busted through it to the fifth floor. Not more than a second and a few punches later, and he was breaking through the fifth floor and slamming down into the fourth floor, the stone of that floor all crumbling down to the lower level. From there the onslaught of fists drove him through the fourth floor to the third, then to the second, continuing until he lie against the concrete ground after breaking through the stone floor of the lowest level of the tower.

By the time his body smacked against the concrete, Arlong was barely conscious, hell, he was barely even alive. His skull had been caved in, his brain was hemorrhaging, his ribs had been shattered and were piercing several of his vital organs, causing internal bleeding, and just about every organ in his body had been ruptured, not to mention that, if one could see it, his skeleton from the waist up looked like nothing more than shattered glass.

Even still, Luffy persisted, his blood still boiling with fury. As he continued, each blow rammed Arlong into the concrete harder, creating more and more cracks every passing second, as well as forcing his body down into the ground, embedding it in the cement. And with each strike, the foundation of Arlong Park began to shake, becoming unstable from all the abuse it had taken today.

It only worsened, as Luffy fists eventually hit so hard, they began to rip into Arlong, forcing their way through his flesh, into his body and out the other side, where they met the concrete and damaged it further. As the sawshark fishman's torso began to be riddled with fist sized holes, that bled profusely, it didn't matter that he was in so much agony he couldn't speak, or that he couldn't breathe because his lungs had been punctured by his ribs, a blood curdling scream of anguish was still ripped from his throat because of all the intense pain.

This scream lasted for what seemed like forever, until Luffy's right fist rammed into Arlong's face and tore through it, the pitch black fist bursting out the back of his head covered in blood, as brain matter and bits of bone splattered on the ground, along with more of the red life liquid as well, finally silencing the fishman. And with that, his life came to an end. Arlong was finally dead.

Luffy let out a cry of triumph, as the presence he felt, that he knew was Arlong, disappeared. And even though that was the case, the gatling continued for several more moments, until the foundation of Arlong Park groaned loudly, before collapsing in on itself, the tower as well as the entire concrete ground caving in, the entire compound creaking as it broke apart and fell into the ocean, making a gigantic splash as it did. With Arlong Park completely destroyed, Luffy's triumphant cry came to an end, just as his gatling did. His arms snapped back to him, returning to their original length, as gravity finally overpowered him and brought him plummeting to the Earth.

As he fell, the rain finally subsided, the sun beginning to peak through the gray clouds, a few rays managing to reach the villagers of Cocoyashi, shining down on them.

Despite the fact that he was heading straight for the ocean, Luffy did nothing to try and save himself, as he felt everything melt away, even his burning fury, his eyes drooping as blood loss began to catch up with him. "Nami..." He mumbled to himself, before hitting the water with a splash.

**Luffy vs Arlong**

**Winner: Luffy**

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	27. Free

Ranger Station Charlie: All I can say on the subject of the drug is this, it is not the same one used on Fishman Island, nor does it have the same side effects. I'm glad you liked the fights. As for Usopp's character development...well, I'll say I have a few gripes myself with it, but not necessarily the same ones you do. As to him realizing his ammunition isn't sufficient...you'll see. Like I said before, everyone on the crew will be stronger than in Cannon, that includes Usopp. How that will happen is something you'll have to wait for.

Yep, Haki is already awakening in Luffy. I know I am. :P And for Zoro, don't you worry, as you're right, he is always on the cusp of being as strong as his Captain, and I don't plan to change that too much. Uh huh, Arlong is finally dead. No, Hachi won't die...at least not by the hand of any of the Strawhats. And as to killing someone effecting Usopp more than Zoro or Sanji, well, yeah, from the kind of guys they are, it's pretty safe to assume they've killed once or twice before. While Chu was Usopp's first kill. Just as Arlong was Luffy's first kill.

Flashbacks...I felt they were necessary. That's all I really have to say on the subject.

Thank you very much.

midnightscar17: Thanks. No, he is not aware of it yet. Okay, good to know. You'll see right now.

Johnny Spectre: Liked it did ya? XD Perhaps he can, who knows. Yep. Yeah, that drug will continue to show up. Who's hand will it be in? You'll have to just wait and find out. As for Luffy being vicious, it's as you said, it was to be expected with everything that bastard did.

On the subject of Gatling going down, didn't Luffy's Elephant Gun Gatling go down, you know, when he used it against Hody? I think the difference between Gatling and Rain is that Rain is meant for multiple targets. I could be wrong of course. Either way, he used Gatling to finish off Arlong. Finally, I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter. :)

Mas2009: Weak, weak, weak huh? I'm sorry you feel that way. No it wasn't stalling, it's called fighting, you know, one of the things One Piece is so well known for? And could you please tell me how I underpowered either of them? Because I don't see how, considering, after taking the pill anyways, Arlong was able to finally keep up with Luffy, even get him on the ropes. You feel like it was a waste of time? Well then Sir and/or Madam, if it bothers you that much, you can just stop reading my story, no ones making you read it. Thank you for your feedback and have a nice life.

LordCanine: Why thank you, I appreciate that.

Kazugiri: I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you! You can't huh? I can. Several situations called for it in fact but...well, Oda and everything. I like Hachi too. Yes there are, Usopp and Kaya. Beyond that...I'm not sure yet, I haven't decided. I will, and thank you again.

SeanHicks4: Nah, Garp didn't teach him, it was just instinctual. Alright, understood. You're welcome, and thank you.

F-ckthesystem125: It kind of was, wan't it? Heh heh. Yeah, he is, which is why he was spared.

Tonlor: Thank you, thank you very much, I appreciate that you loved it so much. :)

Zaralann: The feeling of presence was Observation Haki, which is how he knew Arlong was dead, so all three types actually. Well you're right to an extent. Luffy is strong enough to use hardening, but he doesn't actually know how to use it, it was all emotion and instinct that caused the armament to kick in so heavily. So yeah, Crocodile will have a hard time, if Luffy can tap into his Haki again that is. Either way, it'll be interesting, that's for sure.

GTI: Good. XD

Thank you so very much.

Understood.

I can't blame you for that, it is exciting to think about.

I see, well that means a lot to me, so again, thank you.

You are more than welcome. :)

CrimsontheBloodyDemonKing: Thank you kindly! I'm glad you feel that way.

KyuubiFan325: Thank you. When will he use it again? You'll just have to wait and see.. As for him learning to control it in the next few chapters, yeah, that's not going to happen. It took him a good long time to gain mastery over Haki in Cannon, no way it's going to happen in the span of just a few chapters, unless timeskips are involved of course. As to when it will happen..well, once more I'm gonna have to ask you to wait and find out for yourself.

xntricforentic: I'm so very glad you love it so much. And I'm glad you did decide to review, I always appreciate when someone does, so thank you. Binge read them huh? When I find a story I love, I too do that. I'll do my best, and once more, thank you. Also, sorry I din't put the period in your name. It's just that, for some reason, everytime I used it in your name, the file wouldn't save it.

HP-DG-SB-NR-RR-AGTD-KB-HA-AJ: Damn, haven't heard from you since chapter thirteen, good to see you again. Well I can't actually see you but-nevermind, you know what I mean. Anyway I'm glad you cvaught up too. Thank you for all your kind words. And yeah, I liked ending him that way, just felt right, ya know? As for how it goes from here on out, I hope you enjoy it like you have what's already been posted.

Anttolas: Good to hear it. As for Luffy's age, yes he set out earlier, it says so in the chapter he sets off in. You must have just missed it when you read it. Go back and look for it, you should see it. If you don't feel like it, then just take my word for it.

TheGodfather93: I'm not sure I would say recover, I mean it's not like I was in an accident or anything. Nevertheless, I very much appreciate your sympathy and understanding, so thank you. You had doubts huh? I can understand that. I'm glad you were able to get past them though, I really am. Why thank you, that means a lot to me, it really, truly does. As for roleplay, yeah, it really did help me iron out my fight writing skills, a lot. Is that so? I'm not entirely sure if that's true, but I appreciate the sentiment nevertheless. I honestly can't wipe the smile off my face right now, no matter how hard I try, so once more, I thank you. As for the next chapter, here it is, and don't worry, I didn't feel pressured to write it at all. I have one last thank you for you actually before I move on, so...thank you for your kindness.

As promised, here's the results of the movie poll I put up for this story.

None-7 votes

One Piece: Dead End Adventure-5 votes

One Piece: The Cursed Holy Sword-2 votes

One Piece: Giant Mecha Soldier Of Karakuri Castle-2 votes

One Piece: The movie-1 vote

One Piece: Clockwork Island Adventure-0 votes

One Piece: Chopper's Kingdom On The Island Of Strange Animals-0 votes

All Of The Above-16 votes

And with that, it's official. Every One Piece movie will be in this story, with three exceptions. Everybody already knows what those exceptions are, so...yeah.

Oh and one last thing before the chapter begins, warning for mature content. Unlike previous chapters with warnings, this one is not because of violence or dark themes. S'all I'm saying.

Alright then, here it is, the final chapter of the Arlong Arc, the wrap up. Hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

Nami watched with bated breath as Arlong chased Luffy with the Saw Blade up to the highest floor of Arlong Park, where the battle transitioned into the building. As it did everyone was blocked from seeing the rest of the battle, as they all stared up at the fifth floor of the Arlong Park Tower, where the two combatants were duking it out at.

Zoro was stone faced, his arms crossed across his chest as he watched the top level of the tower, not taking his eyes off of it for even a moment despite the fact that whatever was going on couldn't be seen at the moment.

Sanji seemed almost disinterested while watching the top floor, his visible eye looking lazy, like it wanted nothing more than to drop from the building. That combined with the passive expression on the blonde's face made it look as if he didn't care for what was happening. However, the fact that he hadn't taken a drag of his cigarette for well over a minute showed the opposite, the tobacco stick burning away unsmoked proving he cared a great deal about the outcome of this fight. As for how it was continuing to burn in the rain, well only the blonde knew that.

Usopp was quivering, never having seen anything like the battle that was currently taking place, which had just recently moved to the tower. And while he was indeed frightened, hence the quivering, he was far more scared for his Captain and Nami than he was for himself. If Luffy lost now, then Arlong would surely kill him and everyone else here...except for Nami that is. He would keep her and continue to use her as he's done for the past eight years, locking her in what one could consider hell forever.

Johnny and Yosaku were calm on the outside, doing their best to follow Zoro's lead and stay stone faced. They were freaking out on the inside of course, only because of the brutality that had occurred so far though. It unnerved them and made them worry. They believed in Luffy, they were sure he would win, but the fear that he might not was driving them crazy.

Nojiko was biting her bottom lip in anticipation, her worry clear as she stared up at the top of Arlong Tower.

Hatchan, who was too injured to stand, craned his neck so he could also stare up at where his Captain and Luffy had entered the tower, where their battle was surely continuing. As he did, he was unsure of who he wanted to win. He didn't wish for any harm to befall Arlong, but neither did he want for Nami to continue in her life of forced servitude, of slavery.

Genzo, Nako and the rest of the villagers of Cocoyashi were in a state of shock and disbelief, the things they had seen occur during this fight seeming impossible and yet happening before their very eyes. And while some of it terrified them, a good deal of it gave them hope that maybe, just maybe, Luffy would be able to pull it off and emerge victorious over Arlong.

Most of everyone's breath hitched in their throats as something busted through the wall of the fifth floor of the tower, the object coming flying without a warning. Within a moment, they recognized it as a table, just as they did it hit the ground and broke into several pieces, tons of charts that had been sitting on it scattering to the wind. Realizing it wasn't Luffy, many of them breathed sighs of relief, only Zoro and Sanji were left unperturbed by this.

Only a moment later and nearly a dozen bookshelves came out of the top floor, the wooden constructs doing so a second after the wall broke apart from the first one being slammed into it. A few of them hit the water, causing decent sized splashes and ruining all the books and documents that were in them as they sunk into the ocean, most of the others hit the ground, any of which did broke into a multitude of pieces, said pieces left splintering severely from the impact, while all the contents were spread out about the cement. One bookshelf in particular hit Kuroobi's corpse, landing on his head and shoulders specifically, the force of the wooden construct doing this forced the fishman's body into the water along with said bookshelf.

Two more tables with maps and charts came crashing through the walls of the tower and down to the ground, smashing against the base of the compound and breaking into pieces because of it, damaging some of the maps and charts in the process, while the rest were carried away by the wind, which blew them around the compound, as well as taking some of them out of it completely. Nevertheless it didn't really matter, the rain would soak them through, they would all be ruined regardless.

Shortly after, something shattered one of the windows on the fifth floor, catching everyone's attention. Said object came down quickly, where it clattered against the hard ground, sliding a few feet as it did. With all eyes on it, Nami voiced what the rest of the inhabitants of this island were thinking, all of their eyes wide as she did. "Tha-that's the Saw Blade..." Her disbelief was almost palpable.

"What's left of it anyway." Sanji remarked.

"Just what is happening up there!?" Usopp wondered aloud, somewhat panicked. "Things just keep on come flying out at us!"

"You don't think..." Nojiko began, unsure of what was going on, but having a feeling of what it could be.

Zoro confirmed what she was thinking before it even left her mouth. "That's right, that's exactly what he's doing."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Usopp inquired.

"It makes sense when you think about it." Sanji added.

"What, what makes sense? I don't understand, what's going on you guys!?" Usopp questioned.

Nami's eyes widened to the max, as she realized what was going on herself. "Luffy...he's destroying it. He's actually trying...trying to wipe it from existence. He's trying to take it all away. I understand now, he's going to bring it all crashing down." Tears began to slowly stream down her face once more, as she moved her left hand to cover her mouth, so as to try and keep the sobs in. That didn't stop the first one from escaping, though in the form of his name. "L-Luffy."

Then it happened, the desk she had spent nearly half her life at came flying out of the tower. And as it came racing toward the ground, everything seemed to slow down for the orange haired girl. As she watched it fall, the past eight years flooded her mind, and despite all the pain and sadness associated with these memories, they didn't hurt her this time. Rather, they seemed to fade slightly, as the edge of many of them was taken away because she was watching the end. This was the end of it all, she knew that with every fiber of her being.

As it hit the concrete and shattered into pieces, the contents within scattered by the wind, Nami couldn't help herself. Her head lowered as the rate of her tears increased, a few sobs managing to escape her mouth regardless of her hand. "Thank you."

"I still don't get it, what the hell are you guys talking about!?" Usopp asked them. When no answer came, he looked to Johnny and Yosaku, in hopes that they knew what the rest of them were talking about. However his hopes were dashed as the bounty hunter duo shrugged in unison, also in the dark about what the other four were talking about.

"Just watch, you'll understand soon enough." Zoro told him, only sparing him a sideways glance as he did.

So he did, he returned his attention to the top of the tower, just as a hole was burst through the roof of it. All eyes then went to Luffy, who with a leap launched himself through the hole and up into the air, where soon after Arlong followed.

What came after that was a ferocious and seemingly endless barrage of fists that, eventually, caused the entirety of the compound to break and crumble away, the whole thing falling into the ocean with a very large and very loud splash. Luffy followed after, plummeting down into the sea, creating a splash as he hit the water, causing both Nami and Nojiko to gasp his name.

Everyone was so concerned for the young man that they failed to notice the rain come to an end.

Not a moment of hesitation was shown by Zoro, as he was moving before his captain even hit the water, removing the blades and sheathes attached to his hip and tossing them aside, before diving in after the rubber teen.

Seconds later the two teens resurfaced, Luffy's arm, which was no longer black as night, around Zoro as the older of the two kept him afloat. The young pirate captain was in the middle of a coughing fit, hacking up not only the water that had invaded his lungs, but also blood from the aggravation of his injuries thanks to the salt water. Still, said dip into the water had woken him, if only temporarily, from his inevitable unconscious state.

Relief was clear on everyone's faces when they saw that Luffy was alright. Hell even Sanji couldn't hide it, seeing as he finally let himself try to take a drag of his cigarette, only to find the entire thing had almost burned away, the unused burnt ashes of it falling apart and onto the ground when he tried to inhale some of the nicotine it contained. "Shit." He remarked to himself, before throwing down the left over butt and stamping it out, seeing as it was still lit and needed to be put out.

Zoro brought his captain to the edge of where the compound once was, putting them directly in front of the ground, where the green haired swordsman proceeded to climb up onto with the younger teen in tow. As he did, Sanji and Usopp came to his aid, as he too was injured, then again they all were. Nevertheless they helped him lift Luffy out of the water and onto solid ground, which allowed him to do the same for himself and pull himself out of the water, all without injuring himself further.

As Luffy finally managed to clear his airway and reintroduce oxygen to his lungs, some of the rubble of Arlong park broke through the surface, along with the body of said fishman, all of which stayed and floated atop the water. This caught Usopp's attention, so the long nosed teen got as close as he could so as to take a look. And when he saw what had become of Arlong, almost the entirety of his face gone and replaced with a bloody hole, not to mention the ones riddling the rest of his upper body, he was unable to handle it. Falling to his knees, he proceeded to let loose the contents of his stomach into the water, vomiting at the sight of the disfigured body.

No one really paid him any mind, though Sanji did come over and help him a bit while Zoro helped Luffy to his feet, the two sopping wet but thankfully blood free, for the most part, thanks to their dip in the ocean of course. The younger of the two was unsteady as he stood, even with his brother's help he nearly fell over more than once, but he eventually made it to where he was standing upright regardless.

His breathing was erratic but strong, and his head was down, his eyes on the ground, as he announced to everyone around, "Arlong Park has fallen."

You could hear a pin drop, that's how quiet things got after those words were spoken. The entire village population was speechless, for good reason too. Here was this young man, who had absolutely destroyed not only the monster's lair, but also the monster himself, the same monster who had been tormenting them all for so many years, the same one that had always seemed so strong and untouchable, the same one they had all been sure they would die by. And he had been done in...it was simply too good to be true. And yet...after a dozen moments, it finally managed to sink in, and cheers erupted from them all.

"YEAH! WAY TO GO BIG BRO!" Both Johnny and Yosaku exclaimed in unison.

"You did good." Sanji said plainly, a smirk on his face as he did.

Zoro merely grinned.

Usopp offered his captain a thumbs up, as he tried to fight down the bile in his throat, his stomach still quite unsettled by the sight of Arlong's corpse.

Hatchan passed out from the pain of his injuries before he could say anything on the matter.

"It's over, IT'S ALL OVER! You hear me Genzo!? OUR NIGHTMARE IS OVER!" Nojiko cried, tears of joy filling her eyes.

Genzo's eyes were wide and his mouth was open a bit, as he stared in complete disbelief at where Arlong Park once was. "He did it...he really did it. Arlong has fallen, he can no longer hold us hostage, can no longer hold Nami here. It's finally over." He half whispered, mostly to himself. Only a moment later and he joined the rest of the villagers in cries of relief and joy.

Nami could only stare at Luffy, completely overwhelmed by everything. And then...

Luffy took a few steps forward, away from Zoro and towards Nami, stumbling as he did but managing to keep himself upright as he did. Then his head shot up, this action calling all attention to him, as he declared to the world, "NAMI...YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY NAVIGATOR!"

It was a declaration, one filled with so many emotions it was hard to tell what had driven him to say it, but nevertheless, Nami got the message. Fresh tears came to her, as she nodded her head in agreement with that statement. "Y-yeah." She affirmed, an image of them as kids when he said the same thing flashing in her mind.

Dropping her staff, she moved toward Luffy, locking him in a tight embrace once she reached him, nearly knocking him over in doing so because of his injuries, not that she needed to know that. She buried her face in his chest as she cried, Luffy returning the embrace as she did, patting her back as he let her know it was okay now, that it was all over. And it was, there was nothing left to terrorize the people of Cocoyashi, let alone the whole of the Conomi Islands. There was no doubt about that in Nami's mind, even still, when she felt Luffy place a light peck on her forehead, moving his head down to do so, she felt doubly reassured.

Before she could really soak in Luffy's embrace however, he was whisked away by the rest of the villagers and Johnny and Yosaku, minus Nako, Nojiko and Genzo, as they heaped praise upon him. They even went so far as to lift him up and begin tossing him into the air, catching him as he came down and tossing him up once more, cheering all the while, their joy almost infectious. "HOORAY! HOORAY! HOORAY!" They shouted with every toss of the raven haired teen, who laughed along with every toss.

"Hey what do you think you're doing!? Can't you see he's injured!? He needs medical attention, not to be thrown about!" Nako told them angrily, only to be ignored. "Surely you see the blood flying everytime you throw him upwards don't you? That's his blood! He needs treatment you bunch of numbskulls!" He continued to insist, only to be ignored.

Nami simply watched, an amused smirk across her face, as Nojiko and Genzo came to stand beside her. "You sure did pick an interesting one to fall in love with Nami." Nojiko remarked.

Genzo looked to the two, confusion clear on his face as he sputtered out, "S-say wh-what!? What the hell are you talking about!?"

Nojiko quirked a brow at him then, a wry grin spreading across her face at the same time. "Luffy. He's her lover, her beau, her boyfriend, her hunk of man mea-" Nami slapped her uninjured hand over her sister's mouth then. "That's enough, I think he gets it." She told her, a minor blush adorning her cheeks at that moment.

"When the hell did this happen!?" He questioned them, looking so confused it was pitiable. At that both girls looked at him with quirked brows, as if he had asked an obvious, almost stupid question. Then of course is when he remember all what Bellemere had told him shortly after the three had gotten back home, about how Nami had a crush on Luffy. She had said the orange haired girl was falling in love with him, Genzo however was sure it was just a crush, as how could a child know what romantic love is? "You can't be serious! You were children, how could you possibly fall in love!?" His tone made it quite clear he wasn't trying to be cruel or judgemental, he was just so utterly and completely bewildered.

"I..well..." Nami was unsure of how to explain it to him. To her it was simple, she had fallen in love with Luffy long ago, when they were children. She hadn't truly known it then, however she had known she felt strongly for the boy. And as time passed and she grew older, that feeling failed to fade, only growing stronger with time. It wasn't until she was a teenager that she had truly understood how she felt about the young rubber boy. Puberty was a bitch because of that, it really was, not that she would tell anyone that.

Genzo stood there, waiting for an answer, only to recieve this, "It...just kinda happened." Nami finally said, chuckling nervously as she did, before procceding to let go of Nojiko and slip away.

The scarred man's exasperation was clear, as he near fell over at her answer and actions. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Nojiko giggled at her sister and Genzo, before interceeding. "Don't worry about it Genzo, it was bound to happen eventually. Just be glad it was Luffy she fell for. I mean, he doesn't even know what sex is." What she didn't say was, "Unless of course Ace got ahold of him long enough to explain it."

The older man paled at her words, failing to register anything else aside from sex for several moments. When he did though, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

At the same time, Nami was approaching the crowd tossing Luffy into the air. And as they noticed her approach, they failed to catch Luffy when he came back down again, causing him to hit the dirt with a thud. The villagers fell silent at that, worrying that they might have hurt him, until he relieved those worries by sitting up and beginning to laugh once more.

His laughter came to a halt when Nami came up from behind him and placed his treasured straw hat back on his head, where it belonged. Looking up at her, he saw a smile stretched so far across her face that it almost reached her ears, which in turn caused his smirk to widen a great deal until it was of similar width. Then she leaned down and pressed her lips to his, kissing him for all to see, not that she cared. Nor did anyone else seem to mind, except for maybe Genzo. Though Sanji did find himself craving a cigarrette, so much so that he nearly decided to smoke two at once, his legs itching all the while to get to kicking, this induced by the sight of the two locking lips.

The kiss didn't last long, as it was interuppted by an irratating voice spouting these words, "While I'd hate to break up such a touching scene as this, I'm afraid I must." The one who said this snickered like am mouse then.

All eyes shifting to the one who had spoken, Luffy and Nami breaking apart as their attention was drawn elsewhere, they saw Nezumi with a couple dozen armed marines, all of which had their rifles aimed at the gathered individuals, not a single person left without a gun pointed at them. "I saw everything, and I admit, I didn't think you no-name pirates had a hope in hell of defeating the Arlong Pirates. And as far as everyone else is concerned, you didn't. For I, Captain Nezumi, will be taking the credit for their downfall. I will also be reposessing all the berries they've acquired, as well as the ones the thief Nami stole. If any of you have a problem with that...well keep it to yourselves, unless you want to die of course." He snickered his mouse snicker once more, as he thought to himself, "These pirates are half dead as it is, no way could they possibly hope to resist."

"You pathetic scumbag!" Genzo exclaimed, his anger burning as he grit his teeth and shot the man a death glare, the rest of the village doing the same.

"Trying to swoop in at the last minute and make off with the money and fame, typical! Just how much of a coward are you!?" Nojiko questioned him, though recieved no answer of course.

Johnny and Yosaku, while most definitely afraid of being riddled with holes from all those rifles, couldn't help the anger that showed through, even as they moved to drop their weapons. At the last moment though they decided against it, keeping their blades close so they could attack if the need arised.

Usopp, who had finally managed to pull himself together after seeing Arlong's body, wiped his mouth in case there was any left over throw up as he stood. His eyes were on the marines, fear definitely present in him, however it didn't show. Instead he wore a deep frown, his gaze hard, his anger quite clear as well.

Sanji held no fear of the current situation, his anger worn out on his sleeve, a large scowl on his face for all to see. Even still, he made no move to approach the marines, as he lit another cigarrete and popped it in his mouth, taking a drag from it immediately after doing so.

Zoro, who had just finished strapping his sheathes to his hip once more, the blades already resting within, also wore a deep scowl thanks to the presence of the marines. He would have happily taken care of them, but made no move to do so, as he waited for his captainn to make the first move.

Nami was infuriated by this, "How dare you! You took Arlong's bloodmoney, sat on your ass and allowed him to terrorize us for years! And now, when he's finally been taken care of and we've been freed, you come to take the credit! Well I won't let you!" She grabbed her fallen, near broken bo staff, and moved on the whiskered marine. "You did nothing! Absolutely nothing to help us! You care more about lining your pockets than saving lives you bastard! I-" She was cut off as Luffy grabbed ahold of her right hand, the one she held her staff in, and kept her from moving any further toward the man.

"Luffy?" She spoke his name in confusion, as she looked back at him.

His hat shadowed his eyes, even still, Nami understood what he was telling her without him so much as opening his mouth. It was the first time they had ever communicated without words, like he and Zoro did so often. Since this was the case, she gave no objection to doing as he wanted, stepping back to do so.

Luffy stood then, adjusting his hat as he did so that his eyes were no longer shadowed, and began walking towards the marines. As he did, Nezumi regarded him with a sneer, "What do you think you're doing kid? Didn't you hear what I said?" Luffy didn't answer the man, only continuing to stare at him as he drew closer. "Besides, what could you possibly do? You're half dead as it is. You couldn't possibly hope to take on sixty armed marines." He snickered once more at that.

Luffy said nothing, only continued to walk toward the sixty one marines, counting Nezumi of course. Because of this, the sneer the rat like man had faded, replaced with a scowl. "Are you even listening to me?" No answer. "H-hey. you better listen to this at least. If you don't stop where you are, we will fire!" He exclaimed, to no affect. "D-do you want to die!?" He inquired almost fearfully, as the sixteen year old continued to move forward. "Alright, you asked for it! Fire!" As the marine men tried to comply, they were attacked.

Before any of them could fire off a shot, Zoro had lunged at them, drawing his blades as he did. With a single fluid motion, he proceeded to slice up all of their rifles, leaving only the stocks of the weapons behind, as the rest of the portions of weapons fell to the ground. As they realized this, they near went bug-eyed, gasping as their weapons fell apart in their hands. "W-what!?" Nezumi was in disbelief, as he turned to see all his men now defenseless. As he did, he was nearly hit by an explosion that took a few of his men of their feet, courtesy of Usopp. "Exploding Star!" Next he nearly had his head taken off, ducking to avoid such an outcome, as Johnny and Yosaku charged in blades first, beginning to cut down their numbers as they did. And as he tried to stand up, he he fell to the ground trying to avoid a kick from Sanji, which hit the chest of the soldier behind him, knocking him off his feet and into several of his comrades.

He contemplated staying down, as the blonde began to carve through his men like they were nothing, when he was nearly stepped on by Nami, who joined the fray with her bo staff. She clobbered marine after marine with the thing, it refusing to break as she did. "Who the hell are these guys!?" The rat like marine wondered to himself in a panic, as he scrambled to his feet. Intending to run for it, he spun around, only to come face to face with none other than Luffy, colliding with the teen causing him to stumble back. Standing there with his injuries yet ignoring them as he stared down the whiskered man, it cast him as rather intimadating, at least to the marine captain. "W-who are you?" He questioned fearfully.

"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy." He answered evenly. "And you..." Nezumi broke out into an intense sweat, as he tried to swallow his fear. "M-me?" The marine was thrown for a loop then, as a large smile crossed the rubberman's face as he finished his statement. "...are really annoying."

"Huh?" Nezumi inquired, quite confused by this. Not that it mattered, as only a moment later his face met the dirt, as Luffy rammed his fist down into the top of the marine's head and knocked him to the ground, rendering him unconscious in the process.

The straw hat pirate then looked to his friends, who had just finished knocking out the other sixty marines. "Since they're all out, guess we'll have to send them off ourselves." He stated.

* * *

Twenty minutes later and the sixty one marines lie atop one and other, piled up on a very large raft that Usopp had made, with the help of Zoro, Sanji and some of the other villagers of course. Beside them lie all the Arlong Pirates, with one exception, the fishmen also piled on top of each other in their unconscious state. Three of them were deceased, and that was Arlong, Kuroobi and Chu, those three lying aside from all the others.

The only person on the raft that was actually conscious was Hatchan, who sat with his legs crossed, facing Luffy, his crew and the villagers as the raft drifted off. He had volunteered to go with, not only to atone for what he had done, but to also make sure that the corrupt marines actually did their job for once and imprisoned what was left of the Arlong Pirates. That of course included himself. There was one more reason as to why he decided to go with them that he hadn't told anyone, and that was that, in spite of himself, he felt burning anger towards Luffy, Sanji and Usopp for killing three of the people he had called friend for so long. He knew they had been in the wrong, he knew that everything they had done was wrong, so much so that they deserved what they got. However, that doesn't change the fact that he had known them near his entire life and held them close to his heart. It would take time for him to forgive the three that had taken their lives. And until he could, he thought it best to keep his distance, as they were at no honest fault. After all, if they had been the ones to lose, they would have met the same fate.

Nevertheless, he still found it in him to smile at everyone, as he waved goodbye to them. They all reincorporated, waving him off as the raft drifted away. This moment was interrupted however, as Nezumi awoke. Scrambling out of the pile to the edge of the raft faced toward the island, he glared daggers at everyone. "Y-you filthy pirate bastards! You-you'll pay for this, you hear me!? You will pay for this! And you with the straw hat, Monkey D. Luffy, you'll get what's coming to you, mark my words! MARK MY WORDS!" He shouted at them at the top of his lungs. Before he could continue his rant any further, Hatchan shut him up, smacking him down into the raft face first with one of his arms, rendering him unconscious once more and causing said raft to wobble all about.

"That sunuva bitch deserves no less than a thousand more!" Genzo yelled to Hatchan, only for the white haired fishman's smile to widen a little as he returned to waving goodbye.

Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku all burst into laughter then, Nojiko joining them after a few moments. The villager's couldn't help but smile as they saw just how happy Nami was with them, and they too broke into fits of laughter. They laughed at the fact that Hatchan looked goofy waving at them like that, they laughed at how pitiful Nezumi was and how he was knocked out once more without so much as ounce of effort on the fishman's part, and they laughed at just how absurd this whole situation really was. Most of all, they laughed simply because they were so elated at the fact that it was all finally over.

All this laughter came to an abrupt halt when, without warning, Luffy collapsed face first onto the ground, zonking out as he did.

There were gasps from the villagers and concerned words from the teen's crew, while Nako forced his way through to the rubberman, saying as he did so, "What did I tell all of you!? He's sustained more lacerations than I could ever hope to count and has lost close to four pints of blood! Did you honestly think he could just get up and walk something like that off!? Of course not! He needs medical attention!" He berated them, as he prepared to lift Luffy up off the ground. And when Zoro moved to do so before he could, the elderly doctor chewed him out as well. "And just what do you think you're doing!? You've sustained your own fair share of injuries, you shouldn't be doing anything except for resting! To the clinic with you!" He looked up at Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku then. "That goes for all of you too!"

Suprisingly, none of them argued with that, and prepared to do as he told them, go to the clinic. Zoro and Nami opted to wait and follow Nako there, rather than go on ahead with Usopp, Sanji, Johnny and Yosaku though. That way they could keep their eyes on Luffy, also in case the doctor needed any help with him.

As Nojiko moved to follow her sister, Genzo turned to the villagers, as he proclaimed, "It's time the rest of the islands knew of what happened here! So let's go spread the word, ARLONG PARK HAS FALLEN, HIS REIGN IS OVER, WE ARE FREE!" A chorus of cheers erupted from the villagers, before they split off and ran to do just as Genzo said, spread the word that Arlong no longer ruled over their lives.

* * *

The Party-Day 1, Night 1

Nami sat in one of Nako's waiting chairs, watching as he fixed up everyone. He had seen to Luffy first, cleaning his wounds and dressing them, which of course meant that from the neck down he was covered in bandages, his feet excluded. He had intended to stitch him up, but Zoro had insisted on that not occuring. Nako had argued of course, but Zoro, ever the wiser about how Luffy ticked, told him his captain would refuse to have that done if he was conscious to do so. Not willing to spend the entire night arguing with the swordsman, the doctor moved onto Sanji, who had his torso wrapped up tight and was put on strict bedrest. Then Zoro had his arms and torso wrapped up, his wounds being cleaned first, and was told not to overexhert himself, seeign as he refused to recieve stitches as well. His reasoning for this, 'The wounds aren't serious enough'. Shaking his head, he turned to Usopp, who was up next. The sniper only had to have the bottom half of his torso cleaned and wrapped, making him the least injured of the straw hats, not counting Nami that is. And since the wounds he had sustained weren't all that large, stitches would have been a waste of time. Last up were Johnny and Yosaku, who were covered in bruises and had the odd laceration or two, which meant they had to put ice packs just about on every part of their body. And they, unlike Luffy and Zoro, had no problems with being stitched up, so had their lacerations closed by the doctor after they had been cleaned, so they could heal more effeciently.

After this was all taken care of, Johnny and Yosaku thought about leaving the clinic to join in on the party that was still raging outside in spite of the fact that it had been going on for several hours at this point, but in the end didn't do so. Mainly because they were exhausted, and seeing as only a moment later they crashed on the beds they were in, snoring as they did, that was an understatement. As Nako took notice of this, he remarked, "I suppose those two won't be joining the party anytime soon." His eyes, hidden behind his shades, then moved to the others, as one of his brows quirked, saying as it did, "I'm surprised you three haven't gone to do just that. I mean I did tell you that you three couldn't do anything strenous, but I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to listen to me even in the slightest."

"Oh we have no intention to." Sanji replied bluntly.

"We're just waiting on our captain." Zoro added.

"Once he's up, we'll dive head first into the fun together." Usopp finished, grinning just as the other two were.

Nako could only sigh in exasperation at this. "Kids these days..." He muttered.

Nami laughed at this as she sat down on one of the beds, the one closest to Luffy's, which was also the one closest to Nako's current position. "Luffy's been our friend since we were just kids, did you honestly expect us to just up and leave him like this to join in the party?" Technically he hadn't been speaking to her, as she wasn't too injured to take part in the festivites, but that didn't matter to her.

"No. What I expected, well hoped for actually, was that you would all rest up and let yourselves heal properly. You know, follow doctor's orders and all that." Nako explained.

Zoro chuckled at his words, before saying, "Sorry Doc, but the only orders we follow are our captain's."

Nako opened his mouth to retort, but cut himself off before he even got a word out, sighed and shook his head. Thinking to himself as he did, "I should've known they'd be like this. It's a given that Nami's friends would be just as stubborn as she is.""

Nami snickered at Nako's reaction, before pulling the privacy curtain closed, obstructing the other three's view of them. Though they could still see their shadows since the lights were on.

"Think you can get rid of it?" Nami inquired, as she unwrapped her bandaged arm, revealing her Arlong Pirate mark, as well as the wound that lie in the center of it from repeated puncture with the blade of her knife.

Nako eyed it it for a moment before giving an answer. "I'll do my best."

That seemed good enough for Nami, so she removed her top and bra, Nako averting his eyes as she did, and lied down on her stomach on the bed. As she did, the sound of Sanji beginning to pant could be heard.

"You do realize that since this is a tattoo there's bound to be some scaring left over when I'm done, right?" Nako questioned as he began to clean the area with alcohol.

"Yeah, I figured as much. That's why I want a new tattoo." She replied.

"A new tattoo huh? I'm guessing you have something in mind."

"Uh-huh. Here." She handed him a piece of folded up paper then.

He unfolded it to take a look, unable to fight back the smile crossing his face as he took in the design. "When did you think this up?"

"Years ago, back when Nojiko got her first tattoo to cheer me up about having one. Didn't really have time to ever do more than sketch it for a long time though. I finally managed to draw it up while you were taking care of the boys." She explained.

"Alright then, tattoo removal and then a new tattoo in place of the old one. You might be in here as long as they are." He said jokingly, not realizing just how fast Nami's rubber friend could recover, at least to the point of being able to move about.

Nami, knowing he was in for a surpise at just how close he was to being right, giggled at his words. "Yeah, I guess so."

* * *

A few short hours later...

Nami, who had just gotten through wrapping her arm back up after the tattoo had been finished, and having put her bra and top back on, smiled as she saw Luffy sit up, now once more in the land of the conscious. Zoro, Usopp and Sanji all smiled as well at this development, while Dr. Nako looked near flabbergasted at the now awake boy with more than seventy percent of his body covered in bandages. "Ho-how could he have possibly...?" He wondered to himself. He only grew more bewildered, as he came over and spoke to the young man, "A-are you alright? Are you in pain, is that why you've woken? Because if so, I have some pain killers right-"

"I need meat." Luffy said simply, cutting off the old doctor and causing him to face plant at the ridiculousness of it all. At the same time, this caused Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji to all burst out into laughter.

"Yo-you cannot be serious!" Nako near shouted as he got back to his feet. "You can't get torn into with something like the Saw Blade and just not need somekind of pain medication! Food should be the least of your worries right now! You should be grateful to even still be alive with the condition you were in!"

"Pain medication? Like pain pills? Nah, I don't need those. Besides, they taste awful. What I do need is meat." Luffy reiterated his desire for his favorite type of food, as he threw the sheets that covered him off and hopped out of the bed.

"You can't-I-uh-it's not-aghhhh!" Nako growled in extreme aggravation, no idea how to respond to such a statement.

Luffy's crew followed his example, getting out of their respective beds, as their laughter died down.

"There's a party going on outside." Zoro informed his captain.

"The entire village has been at it for half a day." Usopp added.

"And they've set up quite a spread, raw ham melon with ham on top of it, just to name one of the dishes. There's plenty of meat as well." Sanji assured the straw hat wearing teen.

"Whoa, really!? What are we waiting for then!? Let's go join in the fun!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

As the four followed their captain out the door, Nami patted Nako on the back as she passed him, explaining to him that that was just Luffy and that it'd be a lot easier to just accept it than to try and rationalize the rubberman's actions. While Zoro woke Johnny and Yosaku, so that they too could join in the festivites, which they happily did, after having been reminded that there was party going on in the first place.

Nojiko and Genzo were there to greet them all as they came out of the clinic, though Johnny and Yosaku only spared them a few words before they jumped into the fun. At the same time, Luffy split, saying as he did, "Oh wait, I almost forgot. There's something I gotta do, I'll be back." Were his only words of explanation on the matter.

Zoro, Usopp and Sanji didn't stick around for more than a few moments either, as they too walked off, after a few sweet words from Sanji to Nojiko of course, the three moving towards all that was going on rather than in the opposite direction like their captain. "What do you think that was about?" Usopp asked his two male crewmates. "No clue." Sanji answered. Zoro remained silent on the subject, though he knew exactly what his best friend was running off to do.

Because they all went to do whatever it was they intended to do, that left just Nami, Nojiko and Genzo standing out in front of the clinic. Luffy had his own intentions, but the other three had left so as to give Nami a few moments alone with what was l;eft of her family. While Johnny and Yosaku, well, they just wanted to party.

"I was going to ask how they were all doing, but it seems I've got my answer, just fine. " Nojiko remarked. "Though I guess should have known that Luffy and Zoro would be okay. They've been monsters since they were kids after all."

"Yeah, nothing ever seems to keep them down." Nami said in agreement with her sister's statement. "They were strong even back then. If I had only realized that they could have taken them down sooner, this whole thing could have been done with a month ago." Them referred to Arlong and his goons of course.

"Hey, don't worry about it. A single month wouldn't have made any difference." Nojiko tried to alleviate Nami of her obvious sense of guilt.

"Nojiko's right. Whether they could have freed us a month ago or a year ago, it wouldn't have mattered. All that does matter is that it occurred at all." Genzo said, doing his best to absolve Nami of the guilt she felt as well.

Nami didn't respond to their words for a few moments, before she managed a smile and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right." It was obvious she didn't actually think that, but the ordeal was over, it was time to put all that hate, guilt, sadness and shame in the past. And until she could actually do that, like they say, fake it til you make it.

Seeing this Genzo changed the subject. "Speaking of your friends, where do you think Luffy went?" Genzo questioned the orange haired girl.

Nojiko had to keep herself from rolling her eyes at that. "You're kidding right? I mean, was that the best you could come up with?"

"Huh?" The scarred man's confusion was clear.

"That was a pretty weak topic change Genzo." Nami told him, a genuine smile now on her face as she did.

"What? How's that?" He asked them, truly not knowing why.

"Genzo, he lived with us for two years and was a constant part of our lives for a year before that. By the time we left, Luffy was just as much Bellemere's kid as Nami or I." Nojiko elaborated as to why it was a weak change of topic. "So, when you consider what direction he took off in, it should be pretty obvious what he's doing." What she didn't say was how surprised she was that Luffy had went in the right direction and seemed to remember where the object he sought was located at.

Genzo understood immediately what the rubber boy was doing then. "I see."

* * *

Luffy stood in front of Bellemere's grave, his head lowered, his hat shadowing his eyes as it was at a downward angle. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, not saying anything at all. It was probably only a few minutes, but it honestly felt like hours to the teen. Eventually though he found the words he was searching for, "That monster is gone, he can't ever hurt Nami again, I made sure of that." He paused then, raising his head as he did to stare directly at the wooden cross, as if it would speak back to him. When it failed to do so, he lowered his head once more. "And you don't need to worry about her anymore, because I'll take care of her. " He stopped once more, as if he was truly awaiting a response. Once again however, none came. "I give you my word, I won't let anything happen to her."

_"Like you need to tell me that." _A snort of amusement was heard then. _"You're hopelessly in love with her sweetie, you'd do that whether I was a part of the equation or not, and you know it."_

"Bellemere!?" Luffy questioned as his head shot up, his eyes racing about frantically, the teen sure that he had heard the woman's voice speak to him. Alas, she was nowhere to be seen, and he could no longer hear her either. "What was that?" He wondered aloud, his eyes returning to Bellemere's grave as he did.

Despite the fact that there wasn't anything to tell him what just happened, the straw hat pirate somehow came to understand what had occurred as he stared at the wooden cross that marked the woman he called mother's burial site. Bellemere had spoken to him. He didn't know how or why, but then again he didn't need to. He was just happy that he had at least heard her voice one last time, which was why he now sported a large smile.

Content, he turned to leave, only to see Genzo come out of the woods and begin approaching him. "You're that pinwheel guy, Genzo." He stated the obvious.

Genzo didn't respond as he came to stand just a few inches from the rubber pirate, their height difference of a few inches becoming more pronounced with them standing so close to one and other. "Are you here to visit Bellemere too?" The young pirate captain asked the scarred man.

"Yeah." Was the older man's simple reply.

Luff nodded at that, moving to leave, not only to join the party, but to give the man time to himself with Bellemere. As he moved to leave though, Genzo spoke up, causing him to stop a few short steps after having passed the taller male. "Do you really love her?"

"What?" Was Luffy's response, as he turned to face the pinwheel wearing man.

In spite of the fact that he hadn't turned to face the teen, he could tell he was confused, so elaborated. "Nami. Do you really, truly love her?"

"Of course I do." The words came without an ounce of hesitation or even thought from the raven haired boy..

"How can you say that?" Genzo inquired, as he turned to face the sixteen year old. "You two were only together for three years, more importantly, you were just children. How could you have possibly fallen in love? At eight years old no less!" There was no venom in his words, but they did make it obvious just how incredulous he found the situation.

Luffy shrugged at that. "I don't know. It just sorta happened. It's not like it happened right away or anything. I mean, I didn't even know that I loved Nami differently than I did everybody else in my life. I knew it was different deep down, but I didn't truly acknowledge that or understand it until later, after she was gone. So...yeah, I just don't know."

"Then just how can you say you love her!? You haven't seen each other in eight years, odds are you don't even know her anymore! So how could you possibly love her?"

"Know her? I know a bunch about Nami. Tangerines are her favorite food and orangettes are her least favorite." He began, holding up two fingers to symbolize the two things he had listed off. "Her favorite color is orange." Three. "Sunflowers are her favorite flowers." Four. "Summer is her favorite time of the year, though Spring is a close second." Five. Running out of fingers on his right hand, he then held up his left hand as he continued on. "Her birthday is July Third." Six. "Bellemere is her hero." Seven. "If she doesn't get at least six hours of sleep, she gets really cranky. And mean." Eight. "When she gets mad, she's scary, really scary. And violent too." Nine. "And her dream is to draw a map of the world." Ten. "See? I know lots of stuff about Nami." He wore a large grin as he said this.

Genzo was unable to properly form words for a moment, as he came to realize that all those things were true, even now. Perhaps he truly did know her. Which would mean...

Sighing in defeat, Genzo closed his eyes as he began to massage the bridge of his nose as he came to grips with the situation. "Alright, fine. You've convinced me. However, know this..." He returned his hand to his side, as he opened his eyes to look into the teen's. "If you ever do anything to take her smile away, I will hunt you down and kill you." His voice was low as he said this, it was kind of menacing, or at least it would be to the average person.

Despite just being threatened, Luffy's grin widened as he agreed to those terms. "Sounds good to me." And with that, he turned and left the cliff overlooking the ocean, heading towards the party as he did.

Genzo stared after him, once more surprised by the young man's actions. While he understood he was no match for the teen, he hadn't expected him to smile in the face of a death threat. Brush it off sure, but smile? "He's perplexing, that's for sure." The scarred man said aloud to himself.

"You can say that again." Nami said with a giggle, as she came upon the gravesite.

"Nami." Genzo's surprise was evident, not having expected her to come here yet. "Why aren't you at the party?"

"Well I figured I'd come give Luffy a hand, since it was pretty obvious that you were going to give him the third degree. But as it turns out, he didn't need my help after all." She laughed a bit at that.

"I-uh, I see." Genzo cleared his throat then, more than a little nervous at the moment.

"Don't worry about it Genzo, I know you were just looking out for me. But you've gotta understand that Luffy isn't like everybody else. He isn't out just for himself, he has no intention on using people as stepping stones to his dream, and he would never do anything to hurt those he cares about. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body." What the raven haired teen did to Arlong popped into her head then, causing her to reconsider that statement. "Or at least he doesn't have more than one or two." She didn't let her train of thought drift any further, as she continued. "He isn't like other pirates. He doesn't intend to rape, plunder and pillage, he just wants to have adventures with his friends. And he thinks that's what true pirates are all about, adventure, and that all the others are just fakes. So...yeah, he's a dope. But he's a sweet, kind and trusting dope. More importantly, he's my sweet, kind and trusting dope."

"You...you really are in love with him, aren't you?" Genzo asked, already knowing the answer as he did.

"Yes, yes I am." She confirmed for him regardless.

He couldn't help but want to know exactly what they had gone through together to have possibly become this close at such a young age. So..."Nami?"

"Yeah?"

"I never got the chance to hear Bellemere talk about your time on Dawn Island. Would you mind telling me about it?"

"Not at all." With that, she began to tell him everything that had happened in those three years away from Cocoyashi, at least what she herself experienced and knew about.

* * *

The Party-Day 2, Night 2

Several villagers couldn't help but stare in shock and awe as Luffy devoured all the food laid out before him, tearing into it like an animal, barely even bothering to chew as he threw it all down the hatch. They stared at him like this not only because of how he ate, but how long he had been eating, nearly twenty four hours straight, as well as the fact that he looked like a balloon, having gotten so big from eating so much non-stop. Honestly, if they didn't damn near worship the guy for saving them, they probably would have found it disgusting. Especially since his bandages slowly began to tear as he grew bigger. If he cared about their staring, he certainly didn't show it, as he just continued to eat and eat and eat.

So focused they were on him, they failed to notice the very drunk Yosaku, who was no longer wearing his headgear or jacket and was doing a little jig with a wooden bowl. He almost treated it like his dance partner, but no one really gave it a second thought, as his flushed face revealed how hammered he was to all. And as for Johnny...well, he was hovering between sleep and consciousness, lying face down on an empty table that had been set up for food earlier, giving the odd hiccup here and there.

* * *

Zoro sat at A drink stand, a mug of beer in his hand, when Nami approached him. "Mind if I sit here?" She asked pleasantly.

"Be my guest." He responded just as pleasantly.

So she did, taking not the seat next to him, but the one beside that, as she ordered a mug of beer herself. While doing this, out the corner of her eye, she noticed Zoro glance at the hard to notice cut across her neck, the one he himself had inflicted. "I'd be surprised you noticed it, but you are the one who put it there in the first place after all. It's pretty shallow, and without any blood trickling from it, it's actually pretty easy to miss. I mean, nobody else has noticed it." She pointed out, letting the green haired man know in her own way that he shouldn't feel bad about it.

"Luffy noticed." He told her bluntly.

"He did? Why didn't he say anything then?" She questioned.

"He didn't have to. The look he gave me said it all for him." His mood had clearly soured, as he recalled the anger he had seen in his best friend's eyes. Finishing the mug with a large gulp, he ordered another, this time requesting whiskey, as he needed something stronger.

Nami frowned at that. She was far from Zoro's biggest fan, but she didn't want Luffy and Zoro at odds because of her. "Look Zoro, I'll talk to him. I'll explain-"

"Save your breath. He forgave me the moment I took up for you against those fish bastards." He said, cutting her off, recieving his mug of whiskey as he did.

"Then why are you moping exactly?" She inquired.

"Because Luffy was right to be angry with me. I doubted you, could have killed you. I had fully intended to, back on the Baratie. Luffy stopped me. If he hadn't-"

"Forget it. If someone had treated Luffy like I had, I would have demanded that you kill them. Or at least maim them." She assured him.

Zoro was silent for a moment then, "Still-"

"Look, Luffy forgave you right? You know how he is, so if he forgave you, then you have nothing to be sorry for or feel guilty about anymore. It's done and over with, so stop beating yourself up over it."

Zoro couldn't help but let a small smile appear on his face. "I suppose you're right. Thanks Nami." He took his first drink of the whiskey he had ordered then.

"You'll need the energy to kick yourself after you find out what you owe me." She whispered beneath her breath, continuing off of what she had just said.

"What was that?" He asked her.

"Oh nothing." She said with an innocent smile.

Shrugging, he lifted his mug of whiskey to his lips once more.

"One more thing Zoro."

"Mmm?"

"You owe me a million berris." She told him nonchalantly.

Zoro, so taken off guard by this, did a spittake, hosing the bartender down with the whiskey that had once been in his mouth from the shock of hearing what he had heard. "Wha-what the hell for!?" He questioned her.

"What else? For marking my otherwise perfect, unblemished body." She said with a straight face.

"Huh!? Then what the hell was all that 'Don't beat yourself up' shit!?" He inquired angrily.

"I said that you shouldn't beat yourself up. I didn't say you were off the hook."

"Wha-why-I-uh-aghh!" He growled in anger and aggravation, as Nami grinned almost wickedly at him. "I knew it, I was right about you all along! You damn devil woman!"

* * *

Nojiko was smiling as she sat next to Chabo, the two watching as Luffy devoured everything food related in his sight. Things were finally okay. Even Chabo was at peace, the boy having just finished talking with the blue haired woman about how he understood that they were lucky this had happened at all, and while he was admittedly upset it didn't happen before his father was killed, he accepted that it hadn't and refused to whine about it. He knew that from here on out, they could all succeed or fail, and that which outcome they got depended on the choices they made. Yes, everyone was at peace if even a kid like Chabo could come to terms with it all, or at least Nojiko thought so.

"Uh, is that really the guy that took out Arlong?" Chabo inquired, as he stared at the rubberman who, in his hurry to shove more food down his gullet, ended up eating a large oval plate and got it stuck halfway down, beginning to choke on said piece of kitchenware.

"It sure is." Nojiko confirmed it, as the straw hat teen managed to swallow the plate down, preventing himself from choking to death on it.

"He-uh, sure is strange huh?"

Nojiko couldn't help but laugh at that. "You have no idea." She told him. "Try living with him for two years, then you'll see exactly just how strange he is. But...it's a good kind of strange." Her smile grew as she said this.

"If you say so." Chabo had no intention of arguing with her, considering she liked to hit him and pinch his cheeks when he did.

The blue haired teen's eyes moved to her sister and Zoro then, passing over Usopp, who was singing about himself, as they did. The older of the two was shouting, while the younger one remained completely calm. She shook her head at this, "Those two...they won't ever change. Sure, they may not be as aggressive towards one and other as they used to be, but I don't think they'll ever stop fighting with one and other."

Nojiko was pulled from her musings then, as Sanji came to stand before her and asked, "Would the lovely lady care for some company?" It was only then that she realized Chabo had wandered off.

"Hmm...tempting, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer." She answered him with a grin, nearly laughing as his face almost fell at her answer. "I do believe I see some girls who haven't been able to take their eyes off you, why don't you see if they'd like some company instead?"

"Oh really?" He turned to see what she was talking about, and there were indeed a few girls around their age staring at the swirly browed cook, making eyes at him. His eyes took on their heart form then, as he rushed off toward them, "Oh ladies!" He called.

Nojiko snickered at this, as she wondered how different things would have been if Usopp and Sanji had been there with them, back in Fusha Village. They would have fit into their group quite nicely, she was sure of it. Thinking back to those days in Fusha had her mind wander to one person in particular. "Ace..." As she thought of him, she looked toward the star filled night sky.

* * *

The Party-Day 3, Night 3

Zoro and Sanji were across from each other, the former sitting on the grass with his back against the wall of a house and a mug of alcohol in his hands, while the latter was on his feet and leaning back against another house, a cigarrette in his mouth. However their attention wasn't on one and other, rather it was focused over to the center of the village, where Usopp stood on a mountain of stacked tables, thoroughly sloshed and rousing the villagers with tales of his past ventures. Every single one was a lie of course, but everyone was too drunk to notice. Besides, anytime someone seemed to catch on, he'd dial it back a bit and segway back to the role he played in the fall of Arlong Park, which he made sound much more grandiose than it actually was of course, and they'd forget about it. Because in their minds he took down a fishman, so why wouldn't he be capable of all these other incredible feats?

"He sure does lay it on thick doesn't he?" Sanji remarked offhandedly.

"Yes he does." Zoro agreed.

"There I was, crouched low with the fishman in my sights, when all of the sudden, another one was at my back, breathing down my neck!" The long nosed sniper paused for dramatic effect then, letting it last a little too long in his drunken state, before he continued on. "But I did not panic! And with one swift motion, I whirled to face him, throwing the strongest punch I could as I did, catching him off guard and clocking him in the jaw, effectily-effectively knocking him to the ground! Then, qui-quick as lighting, I turned and took aim once more, firing just in time to stop the other one from reaching me in his reckless charge! "

As the curly haired teen continued his story, continuing to trip over a word every now and then thanks to his intoxication, Zoro and Sanji decided they had seen enough and stopped paying attention to him. As they did, they looked to one and other, but no words were exchanged for nearly a dozen moments. But then, finally, one of them spoke, "So...the world's greatest swordsman huh?"

"Yeah. And the All-Blue for you right?"

"Yep."

Silence...

"Three sword style, that's...interesting."

"Your kicking technique is interesting too, I guess."

More silence...

At this point it was quite obvious to both men that neither actually desired to talk, and that both were just trying to get to know each other out of courtesy, as they were both Luffy's friends and were crewmates, and would be living together for a long time to come because of this. Neither truly even cared about the other's fighting style, only trying to spark conversation by saying anything about them at all. It was all just so awkward, especially since neither made the best first impression.

Since this was the case, Zoro just came out said, "You know, we don't actually have to talk to each other. We could just...you know, not."

Sanji latched onto to that. "Sounds good to me." And with that he reached down and picked up the ashtray he had brought with him and put his cigarrette out in it, not wanting to leave any kind of litter or trash in Nami's and Nojiko's hometown. He then returned the ashtray to where he got it from, before proceeding to run off towards where a small group of women were located at. "Oh ladies, would you care to dance!?" He asked them excitedly, his eyes once more changing into hearts as he rushed to them.

Zoro just watched him go with a quirked brow, before sighing. "I'm really not gonna like that guy." Between Nami and Sanji, well, things weren't shaping up very nicely for Zoro, and he realized this. But now wasn't the time to focus on that, so he shook his head of those thoughts and returned to drinking his whiskey, having not switched back after what Nami had said to him.

* * *

Nami sat inside her old house, the one she lived in as a child before and after living in Fusha, at the table she used to eat at with her sister and mother, in the chair opposite to the one Bellemere always used to use. Her bandages were all gone, and she now wore a pair of black short shorts and Bellemere's old MACE shirt, as well as a pair of ordinary beige sandals. Beside her was a very large white sack, it matching the height and almost the length of the table. It was so big because it was stretched out from all that had been stuffed in it, and that was of course all the berris and treasure Nami had accumulated over the past eight years. And resting on top was a note, stuck in the rope that was tied around the lip of the sack to keep it closed. In it were the words Nami wrote, explaining to whoever found it and the rest of the village that this was for all of them, to make sure they would be all right.

As she sat there, she couldn't keep the smile from her face. Everything had worked out, no one had died, at least no one that didn't deserve it, her friends were okay, Luffy and her were finally together, and tomorrow morning, they would set off on the adventure that they had dreamed about since they were kids. Everything had worked out indeed. "It's all over Bellemere, finally. Arlong is dead and Cocoyashi is free. And tomorrow I set off with Luffy as his navigator, to start the journey he, Zoro and I talked about as children. It's okay now, I'm...I'm honestly happy." Her smile widened as she said this. "I just wanted you to know that."

There was a knock at her door then, causing her attention to shift as she told them to come in. They did as she said, the person turning out to be Luffy, who too no longer wore any bandages, having healed up completely thanks to his eating binge. Why eating helped him heal so much eluded Nami, but she knew for certain that it did indeed help him heal, just as Zoro did. And as for clothes, well, he somehow had managed to find the one outfit in the village that was the exact copy of the one he had been wearing before, red vest and blue jean shorts, identical down to the T. How the hell he kept managing to find exact copies of his clothing, well the answer to that question eluded the orange haired teen as well.

"Luffy." She greeted him, her smile widening even more so that it almost reached her ears upon seeing him.

"Hey Nami." He returned her greeting with a smile of similar size.

"Were you looking for me?" She inquired.

"Yeah actually." He answered. "I just wanted to...to..." His smile fell as he hesitated. But Luffy never hesitated, so this understandably concerned Nami.

"To what Luffy?" She asked, prompting him to tell her.

"I just wanted to...to make sure that you wanted to come with me, with us." He said, his tone taking on just a hint of anxiety and sadness, as he feared what her answer might be. "Because you don't have to if you don't want to." He added, continuing on before she could interject or stop him. "I promised you that once you were free, that I would let you go. And I meant it. If you don't want to become a pirate then I won't make you. If you want to join and sail with the marines to draw your map, or by yourself, then I won't stop you." He assured her.

"Luffy, why would you-" Before she could finish, he answered what he thought her question was. "Because I want you to be happy. And all I ever do anymore is make you cry. I don't want you to cry anymore, especially not because of me." His sorrowful tone was down right heartbreaking to hear. For the first time since he was a child, Luffy was having a moment of weakness, of hesitation, of uncertainty. And it hurt Nami to see, not because she felt he wasn't allowed to feel those things, but because she was the reason he was feeling them.

"No Luffy, you're wrong. " She told him gently, as she moved toward him. "You don't make me cry tears of sadness, you've never made me cry any kind of tears other than ones of happiness. The reason I was so upset this past month was because of how I treated you. It hurt me to say all those vile things to you, it really tore me up inside. But I kept at it in hopes that you wouldn't want anything to do with me, so that you were safe from Arlong." She explained as she came to a stop before him. As he opened his mouth to reply, she continued, cutting him off before he could start. "I didn't understand just how strong you had become, so I had no idea you could have beaten him, not until a few days ago." She stopped then, as she made sure he was looking straight into her eyes as she spoke, so that he knew she was telling the truth. "But no matter what I said or did, you just wouldn't take the bait. You never even said a single hurtful thing about me, even in spite of all the hurtful things I said to you."

She stopped once more as her breath nearly hitched, becoming upset at recalling just how nasty the things she had said had been. She covered it up as best as she could though, and continued. "And you don't know just how that makes me feel. To think you couldn't bring yourself to say a single harsh thing about me, well it would have made my heart flutter if things hadn't been so stressfull. So there, you see? You were wrong, you didn't make me cry, not even once." After she was sure she had successfully reassured him, she moved onto the second matter she wanted to talk about. "Now, as I was trying to ask, why would you ask me if I wanted to come with you? Of course I do. I thought I made it clear that every mean thing I said had been nothing more than lies, You told me you understood that, but then you ask me this? What do I have to do to prove it to you?" She asked him, as she placed her left hand on the right side of his face, before leaning in and pressing her lips to his, initiating their third kiss.

The kiss lasted a handful of moments, before Nami pulled away, doing so slowly.

"I'm sorry about that Nami, guess I was just being dumb." Luffy said with a large grin and a few chuckles, all his uncertainty, hesitation and anxiety having faded away.

This in turn caused Nami to grin as well, glad to have gotten through to him. As she realized just what kind of opportunity was before her though, not only to truly make Luffy understand that she was with him always and that she was all his, but to also make the most of the time they had alone together, which would be hard to secure for a long time to come since they'd be living with their other three crewmates, she began to debate whether to take advantage of it or not. Before she could come to a decision however, she was gently pushed forward into Luffy from behind, these words filling her ears. _"Go for it honey."_

He caught her of course, preventing her from falling, putting his arms around her and her face in his chest as he did. "Nami, are you alright?" He questioned, wondering why she had just fallen into him like that.

Nami was unsure how to answer that at first. Because, if she didn't know better, she could have sworn she had just heard her mother's voice. And that she had been the one to push her. Looking back though, she saw nothing. "Nami?" Luffy repeated, a little concerned.

"I'm fine Luffy." She told him, as she pushed herself off his chest, while coming to terms with what just happened. As she looked at his face though, things just seemed to fall into place, so she accepted what just happened as a friendly nudge from her mother, in spite of the fact that that should have been impossible. Her decision now made, her smile returned, though this time it was sensual.

Locking the front door first, Nami took Luffy by the hand and led him to one of the bedrooms, the only one in the house with a queen size bed, closing the door to that room as well. Luffy was, understandably, confused by this. "What's going on Nami?" He began to look around the room then, thinking there must be something she wanted to show him or something. When he found nothing of interest however, he turned his attention back to her, to see her taking her shirt off. "Uh, what are you doing?" He inquired, even more confused than he was before.

She quirked a brow at him then, "What do you think dummy?" It was then that he noticed that, where once was the mark of the Arlong Pirates, now was a new tattoo. Blue in color, it was of a pinwheel-tangerine hybrid

"I-um...well..." He was unsure how to answer. The fact that she had called him dummy rather than dumbass or idiot meant she was in a very good mood, and the last thing he wanted to do was take her out of that mood by saying something stupid.

Seeing how nervous he was, she made sure to remove her next piece of clothing, her shorts, much slower than neccessary, giving him a little show as she did. This only served to make things worse however, as when she threw her shorts to the side with her shirt, kicking off her sandals as she did, she took notice of the fact that he was now sweating quite a bit, his eyes moving back and forth, darting around so as to keep them off her nearly nude form, it clad only in a pair of white panties and a white bra.

Sighing, she decided to take the path Luffy knew and understood best, the blunt one. "Luffy relax, there's nothing to be nervous about. I want you to make love to me."

It clicked in Luffy's head then, as his nervousness was diminished a great deal. "Oh. Well why didn't you just say that in the first place?" He questioned her, not knowing why she wouldn't.

She shook her head at that, chuckling a little. "Because people don't usually come out and just say it like that. They usually just...do it."

"Huh? Why not? It'd make things simpler wouldn't it?" He inquired further, tilting his head to the side as he did.

"It would, but they...they just don't."

"That's stupid." He remarked with a frown, causing Nami to giggle. "Things would be much easier if-" He was cut off then, as Nami placed her lips on his, kisssing him again.

"Luffy." She breathed his name as she pulled back.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." With that, she kissed him once more, reversing their positions as she did, making it where his back was to the bed rather than her's. She did this so that, when she pulled away, she could push him down onto the bed, which she did, stealing his hat away from him as she did.

Suprisingly enough, he said nothing as this happened, keeping quiet as she had told him to. And he was rewarded for that, as after she placed his hat on her head, she made a show of removing her bra before flinging it at him. Then she did the same with her panties, making sure to face away from him and bend over as she slid them down her legs, giving him quite the view as she stepped out of them. And as she turned to face him once more, tossing her panties to the side as she did, she noted with pride that she had effectively turned him on, if his bleeding nose and erection straining to get out of his shorts were anything to go by that is.

"Oh Luffy, one last thing."

"Y-yeah?" He was a little too awestruck by her naked glory to give anymore of a reply than that. "Remember how I said every word I said to you before these past few days was a lie? That thing about not being a virgin anymore, that was one of those lies." She informed him with a grin.

* * *

As Nojiko returned to the party, she noted that a good deal of the village had passed out while she was gone. It made sense, they had been partying for three days and three nights now, tonight being the third night, and it was almost midnight. So yeah, quite a bit of partying on their part. But as Nojiko searched about with her eyes, she was delighted to find the three people she sought had failed to fall into uncosciousness with the rest of them, even Johnny and Yosaku having done so. So with a wry grin, she approached Zoro, Sanji and Usopp one by one and convinced them to follow her, telling them there was something they had to see. And they, not having any reason to not trust her, shrugged and came with her, Sanji agreeing happily and telling her he would go anywhere as long as it was with her. Usopp was forced to sober up a little before they left though.

She led them to their destination, and told them to be quiet, before leading them back around her and Nami's childhood home. This caused Zoro to question just what they were doing of course, but a harsh shushing from the blue haired teen got him to be quiet. Their stealth run didn't last for long anyway, as once they were at the back of the house, she told them to stay down, as she slowly and quietly opened the window they were crouching under.

Once it was raised all the way, she motioned for them to look in, all of them doing as she bid them to. And just as they did, she reached in and flicked the light on, before hitting the deck, just as the three mens screams filled the air. Just what caused these screams? The sight of Luffy and Nami mid coitus, that's what.

Zoro threw himself back at the atrocious sight, hitting the ground with a thump, beginning to roll around frantically, his hands over his eyes as he did. "My eyes burn! They burn! ! MY EYES!" He cried out as if he was in agony.

"I didn't see that! You hear me!? I didn't see it! I SAW NOTHING!" Usopp shouted at the top of his lungs as he jumped back several feet, his right hand clamped tightly over his eyes while his left hand was held out in front of him in the stop signal as he shook it back and forth real fast.

Sanji was the only one of the three to not distance himself from the window. On the contrary, he gripped the sill of the window so tight his knuckles were white, as tears streamed down his face in a rather comical fashion. "Why? Why!? Why isn't that me!? WHY!?" He whined loudly and pathetically, recieving a sandal thrown at him courtesy of Nami for his efforts, the shoe hitting him square in the face and knocking him back onto the ground. He made no attempt to get back up, just continuing to wallow in his newfound misery, tears running down his now red sandal printed face.

All the while, Nojiko was rolling around the ground, laughing her ass off at the three's expense.

Despite this interruption and all the noise it brought, the two lovers kept at it, not seeming to care too much about having been seen, or that their moans, groans and grunts could now be heard since the window was open.

* * *

The next day...

Nami, who had showered and changed in preparation for setting out, stood outside her childhood home, simply staring at it. She wore a plain white short sleeve shirt, a blue mini-skirt with two white rings on the left side of it and two on the right side, as well as her favored boot-like high heeled gladiator sandals, that were brown in color. And as to why she was staring at her house, well, it would be the last time she saw it for a long time. At least until their adventures brought them back around to the East Blue, which could take quite a long time. So she was etching it into her memory, just in case it wasn't already.

The silence that filled the area was interrupted, as was she, when Zoro, Sanji and Usopp came upon her. She turned to face them, only to see none of them could look directly at her. Sanji's eyes were on the ground, Usopp was whistling, trying to act nonchalant as he stared over to his right, and Zoro looked right past her. And what's more, even with her attention given to them, they failed to say anything. She waited for them to, but it was obvious it would take a while with the way they were acting. So she decided to speak instead, intent on getting them talking one way or another. quirking a brow as she did, "So, did you perverts enjoy the show last night?"

"Hell no!" Was Zoro's immediate idignant response.

Sanji began to sob at that question, not even bothering to talk.

"No! I mean, not that you're not pretty or anything-cause you are! But-actually it doesn't matter! Because I didn't see anything! That's right, these eyes? They saw nothing!" Usopp insisted with vehemence.

"Hmm, is that so? Well that's too bad, especially since you now all owe me five hundred thousand berris. " She informed them with a slightly sinister smirk. "A piece." She added, so to make sure they knew that all together they owed her one million five hundred thousand berris.

"Fuck that! I ain't paying you for that horrorshow!" Zoro snapped.

Sanji's sobs just grew louder.

"Wha-what!? Bu-but didn't you hear me!? I didn't see anything! I didn't see anything at all!" Usopp tried to argue.

Nami waved them off as she spoke once more, "I don't care how you feel about what you saw or any excuses you have. The fact of the matter is that you did indeed see it. And since it involved my nude form, as well as the...unique position I was in with Luffy, I'm owed for being ogled. No one was supposed to see me naked but Luffy, and since you three did, I'm owed compensation. If you didn't want to pay me, then you shouldn't have peeked in the first place."

From there the arguement would continue for several more minutes, until..

As Usopp opened his mouth to try and argue his point further, Zoro, his teeth grit in anger, cut him off. "Forget it, it's a waste of breath. When the witch gets it in her head she's owed something, she never lets it go. No matter how much arguing takes place. And no matter whether she's right or not. Besides, we came here for a reason, remember?" With a reluctant nod from the long nosed sniper, Zoro spoke once again, "We've stocked up on supplies and the ship is ready to go. Now we're just waiting on you. Come to the docks when you're ready to leave." He managed to get out through grit teeth, as he fought to keep from hitting the annoying woman.

With that said, he turned and left, Usopp and Sanji following behind, the blonde still crying as they went back to the ship. And as they left, Nojiko passed by them as she came to see her sister, being shot a nasty glare by Zoro as she did. She just stuck her tongue out at him, before turning her attention to her sister, as she came to a stop before her. She too had changed clothes, now wearing dark blue trousers, blue-green flipflops and a sleeveless green button up shirt.

"Hey Nami." She greeted.

"Nojiko? Why aren't you at the docks with everybody else?" The orange haired cartographer inquired.

"Come now Nami, I know you better than you think I do. If I waited at the docks with everybody else, I wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye, not how I want to."

Nami was surprised by her sister's words for a moment, before a small smile crossed her face. "You figured me out huh?"

"Of course I did, I'm your sister after all." As she said this, without warning, she tossed something Nami's way. She caught it and proceeded to look down at it, to see it was a gold bracelet. "I want you to have that." The blue haired teen told her younger sibling.

"Nojiko what-" Before she could finish, her elder sister cut her off. "I found that in a box of Bellemere's old things. Figured she'd have wanted you to have it, you know, as a memento of home and her." She explained.

Shaking her head, Nami attempted to give the bracelet back. "Nojiko I can't take-" She was cut off a second time by the blue haired woman. "Yes, yes you can." She told her, as she pushed the bracelet back to her, after she had tried to give it back.

"Besides, if you're worried about what I think you're worried about, there's no need." Nojiko raised her right hand up somewhat then, drawing attention to it and the gold bracelet around her wrist. "I have one too see? So just take it, that way a part of Bellemere and I will always be with you. "

"Nojiko..." Nami breathed her sister's name with a mix of emotions, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Thank you." She said, as she slipped the bracelet onto her left wrist, before stepping forward to hug her. "You're welcome." Nojiko replied with a smile, as she embraced her sister.

* * *

Luffy, who was waiting at the docks for his crew to return, had just retreived a flag with his mark that he had Usopp draw/paint up about an hour ago from the ship. With it in hand, he approached Genzo, who stood with all the villagers, Nako among them, waiting to see Nami and the rest of them off. Or rather, Genzo thought he was approaching him, until he past by him that is and proceeded to climb up the tallest of the buildings in the village. Considering it was a modest one, said building wasn't much larger than the rest. Nevertheless, it would serve the purpose Luffy intended it for.

Genzo, understandably, was curious about what the rubberman was doing. "Just what are you doing Luffy?" The scarred man inquired.

Luffy answered the man, as he prepared to plant the flag in the center of the roof of the building. "Shanks, the man that gave me this hat, the one I promised I would become the Pirate King, once told me about how villages and even entire islands would fly flags of pirates that claimed them as territory. Not only was that important to pirates that wanted to conquer the Grand Line, but it also stopped other pirates from attacking them, as they didn't want to anger the pirates who had staked their claim there. So I figured-"

"If you do the same here with your flag, it would act as a deterrent to any other pirates!" Genzo exclaimed, as he realized what the straw hat pirate was doing.

"Yeah!" Luffy confirmed with a large smile. "You guys don't mind right?"

"Of course not! After everything you've done for us, you go right ahead!" Nako spoke, voicing all the villager's thoughts.

So Luffy did just that, breaking through the shingling of the roof as he slammed the small pole the flag was on down into the top of the building. He made sure it was secure, before jumping down, his smile widening as he looked to all the villagers, who all smiled in return. "Thank you, for everything you've done. For us and for Nami." Genzo said, voicing the rest of the village's thoughts, just as Nako had done before him.

"Don't mention it." Was the teen's simplistic response, making the village just all that more grateful that Nami had someone like him there for her. It was then though, that the teen finally noticed the lack of a pinwheel on Genzo's hat. "Huh? Where's your pinwheel?"

"That old thing? I no longer need it." He answered, his smile widening. He had left it with Bellemere's grave, but that wasn't necassary to share with everyone.

That's when Zoro, Usopp and Sanji returned, the three not questioning the flag as Luffy had already told them what it was for prior to this, And as they boared the ship, Luffy followed after them, asking what was wrong as he did, as Zoro was grumbling to himself, Usopp looked nervous and Sanji, well, he had only now just stopped crying. "Is this about last night?" He then asked, only to recieve nasty glareds form both Zoro and Sanji, which got him to shut up, for now.

The four's attention was then diverted to Johnny and Yosaku, who both stood in their boat, having recovered it, looking just as they did the day they had met them. With their fists under their chins, they began to speak. "We can't thank you enough for everything you've done for us, but we gotta go back to our regular jobs as bounty hunters." Yosaku started.

"So this is goodbye. I hope we get to meet again someday." Johnny finished.

And honestly, did anymore really need to be said? Not to those six there wasn't, so they said their goodbyes.

"See ya around." Zoro said with a grin.

"Yeah, it was nice meeting you guys. So long." Usopp said with a smile.

"Be seeing ya." Sanji said almost indifferently

"We'll miss you guys!" Luffy called.

"Goodbye!" Johnny and Yosaku bidded in unison, as they began to float away from the dock, having untied the rope that bound them there.

With those two slowly fading into the distance, the four turned their attention back to the village, more specifically, the direction Nami was now coming from.

"Why isn't Nami here?" One of the villagers questioned.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her anywhere since this morning." Another answered with a shrug.

"What!? One hundred million berris!? She left all of the money!?" Genzo near shouted in shock, after hearing what Nojiko had to say, the girl having arrived at the edge of the dock just a few moments ago

"She left all of it in our house with a letter." Nojiko reinterated.

"She's not even gonna take some of it!? But she worked so hard to get it!" Nako interjected.

"She'll steal more, that's what her letter said. And you know her, there's no changing her mind once it's made up." Nojiko told them, both knowing just how right she was.

"That girl, she's not even going to give us a chance to thank her is she?" Genzo inquired.

"I'm afraid not." Nojiko confirmed exactly that. Before adding, "That's why I said goodbye earlier." A smirk crossed her face then, as Genzo gave her the stink eye at what she said.

Before he could say anything to her about it though, his and everyone elses attention was pulled to the back of the crowd, where Nami stood about twenty feet from them all.

"There she is!" Several villagers announced.

That was the cue to get things rolling. "Set the sails!" Nami cried, as she began a dead on sprint toward the Going Merry.

"I don't get it, why is she running?" Usopp questioned.

"She said to set sail." Luffy repeated.

"Huh? Why though?" Usopp repeated his question.

"Because she said so. Now I'm saying so." Luffy answered. Usopp just shrugged and moved to do as he was told.

"Stop her quick! She plans on leaving without letting any of us thank her or say goodbye!" Genzo informed everyone.

"Set sail!" Luffy barked, issuing the order officially. So Usopp unfurled the sail, as Zoro raised the anchor, and Sanji prepared the rudder.

"Wait!" A portion of the villagers yelled.

"Don't go yet!" Another portion yelled.

"At least let us say goodbye!" Nako pleaded.

Nami reached the gathering of villagers then, plunging straight into the fray and proceeding to zig, zag swerve, juke and weave her way through the whole entire crowd, no one able to catch her as she continously outmaneuvered them.

"Nami no!" One villager shouted.

"Let us thank you!" Another begged.

"Nami come back here, you can't leave this way!" Genzo demanded as she passed by him as he tried to grab her, only to be ignored.

"You sure you wanna let her leave like this?" Sanji asked after having come back on deck.

"It's not my decision. She does what she wants." Luffy informed him.

"Ain't that the truth," Zoro remarked with a snort.

"Just stop, don't go, not like this!" A villager implored.

"Just stop, please!" Another villager echoed that sentiment.

All their words fell on deaf ears, as Nami reached the end of the dock and proceeded to leap toward the Going Merry, which had gotten a good dozen or so feet away at that point. Even as it looked like she might not make it, she didn't seem perturbed in the slightest. The reason for this was revealed, as Luffy reached out, took her by her hand and assisted her in landing firmly on both hwe feet on the deck.

"Nami Why!?" Genzo asks her.

She gave no answer, she didn't even turn to face all of them. Instead, she lifts up her shirt halfway, to where it rested just below her breasts, which allowed each and every villager's wallet and the occasional small purse or handbag to come falling out onto the deck.

"Ah, no way!" Genzo exclaimed in surprise.

"What the!?"

"My wallet is gone!"

"Mine too!"

"She took my money!"

"My purse is gone!"

With all the villagers coming to the realization that they had just been stolen from, Nami put her shirt back down, as she brought a berri note to her lips and gave it a peck. "Thanks a bunch!" She said with a cheeky grin while looking back at them all.

And with that, Nojiko peeled into a fit of laughter. "She got you all good!"

"Damn you brat!" Genzo shouted indignantly.

"What is it with her and money?" Usopp asked with a bit of increduility.

"That woman has always been greedy." Zoro commented.

Luffy simply burst into laughter at his lover's actions. "That's Nami for ya!"

"You lousy pickpocket, we'll miss you!" Genzo called to her, as he waved goodbye.

"Goodbye everybody, I'll miss you, take care!" Nami called back to them all with a wide smile, facing them as she waved both her arms.

This farewell lasted for a minute or so, as all the villagers bid her goodbye as well, the young girl not stopping her waving until her village was just barely on the horizon. And once it was, she let her arms fall to her sides, before leaning forward and resting them on the railing, intent on keeping her home in her sights until she could no longer see it.

Watching it shrink to nothing more than a spec, she took in a deep breath of ocean air and let it out in a content sigh. Then, she whispered the words she had been dying to say for eight long years. "I'm finally...free."

* * *

_**To Be Continued...**_


	28. First Bounty

Anttolas: Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. As for not making big reviews too often, don't worry about it. While I do love big reviews, not going to lie some have driven me to get things done faster though not always, it doesn't matter. As long as you enjoy the story and continue to support it, I simply can't ask for more. So thank you for your support.

Zaralann: Thank you! Yeah, he almost didn't. XD

DarkPirateKing69: Well you're right, but I thought it best to give a heads up anyway. As, in my experience at least, people tend to have more problems with sexual content rather than violent content. And, not gonna lie, I've always been a wee bit paranoid about getting my stories taken down. So to avoid that I try to take every precaution I can. Onto the peeking scene, I'm sorry if it wasn't to your taste, I really am, but I really wanted to put that in. I had it in my head for a while, and I just thought it would be so funny. As to why I put it in there...well there wasn't any real reason, I just thought it'd be a fun scene, even if it was small. And as to Nojiko's motive, well she's a little more playful in this story and isn't quite the same person as in Canon so...yeah. Once more though I'd like to reiterate, sorry if the scene bothered you or anyone else who read it, just something I wanted to do.

Anyway, to the most important part of your review. Sanji's newly revealed heritage...it will eventually come up. However, I'm afraid it won't happen until a good deal more has been revealed about exactly what's going on with that. Why? Because I like to have something to go on. I want to find out what the deal is, so I can decide whether I want to incorporate it as is, or make my own modifications to it, as well as how I might add on extra bits or even whole scenarios associated with it of my own design. The only way I would run with something like that with what little information I have on it is either, A-if I'm at the point I need to use it and it's going to be awhile before it's expanded upon, or B-If I have something I want to put in motion right then concerning such a matter without actually requiring any more information on it. So to sum up, yes it will, but not for a while.

F-ckthesystem125: Glad ya did. I wouldn't say that...but Zoro would. I think that's a given at this point, but as to how much higher it will be? Well, I'll let you speculate on that until the time comes for me to reveal his bounty. Heads up, won't be long at all. :P As for the others, no, not yet. But you have a point, now I'm going to have to work around that little problem with Big Mom. Hmm...if you'll excuse me, I have some brainstorming to do. Funimation App Ho! In otherwords, I'll think it over while binging on One Piece. XD

Johnny Spectre: Are you absolutely sure about that? Cause I know for a fact I've seen Luffy use Gum Gum Storm while flying directly at an enemy, not upward, though I can't quite remember when. Then there's the Elephant Gun Gatling against Hody, could've sworn he was coming down at him while using it. Haven't seen the scene in much detail as I only watch the English Dub, but since I'm online a lot, well, I tend to see a lot of One Piece ahead of where I'm at., so...yeah. Anyway, as to the drug...huh? Is there some kind of adverse effect for the New Fishman steriod on Devil Fruit users? Is that what you're saying? If not, I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused as to what you're trying to tell me. Even if that's what you're telling me, and it's true, it doesn't really matter when it comes to the drug that's popped up so far in this story, as it has little to no relation to the drug Hody and his cronies used.

Tonlor: Thank you! So did I. Really glad you feel that way.

Ranger Station Charlie: Yep, wrapped up and done. You think so? I do my best to keep true to their personalities, while also accounting for the changes made to them because of their altered histories. And I'm interested in writing it. I actually even have a few scenes planned for later concerning them. As for how the Luffy and Nami will react to seeing Tashigi with Zoro...well, shock and disbelief is a fair guess to how that'll go.

Lobisomen616: All twenty seven chapters in one day you say? Binging for the win! Yeah, there will be spots like that further on in the story too, darker than they were in the original, but that just comes with the story I'm trying to tell. You may feel bad for Arlong, but I certainly don't. We can both agree that he deserved it though, that's for sure.

Well damn...I...I'm not sure how to respond to that. That is one hell of a compliment, that's for sure. Reading that, not gonna lie, it fills me with pride and makes me elated. To think someone could think so highly of my work, it means a lot to me. So thank you very much for such kind words and high praise, they mean quite a lot, truly they do.

And I can't wait to write the rest of the story! But I don't think it'll take years to get that-okay maybe it will. Cause, not gonna lie, Pre-timeskip is going to be around...at least a hundred chapters. Seriously, this story will probably be the longest story I ever write. Well, a DBZ story I plan on writing might come close, but I doubt it'll match the length of this story when it's completely done. Not even the other One Piece stories I have planned will be able to stand up to this one when it comes to chapter count, and I plan on those being quite long as well. So...yeah, it'll take a while. As to how long it'll take to reach the arcs you mentioned, well, that's debateable. It will certainly take a long time, but, if I find myself in the right mindframe, I can easily pump out close to a dozen chapters in less than two months. On the other hand, the opposite can and has happened, where not a single update takes place in six months or more, so it's a gamble really. It all just depends on where my mind is at and what fandom I feel like writing for.

Darkangel665: I'm so very happy you and so many others seem to have enjoyed the chapter so much. Well it being higher than before is a given, how much higher though, you will have to wait and see. Neither can I. You're quite welcome, and thank you. :)

HP-DG-SB: So...I just now realized I could have been calling you by this rather than your full penname, since you used to give a signature with this shortened version. How silly of me. Anyway, to your review. Thank you very much, glad you liked my little wrap up of the arc. Here's the next chapter, so no more waiting for the next chapter! At least until you finish this one that is...okay, stopping now so I don't start rambling on.

Dissenter: I can't say I approve of someone putting off their exams for my story. What I can say however, is that it brings a big ol' grin to my face that someone could enjoy my story so much as to put something like that off. Mixed messages, I know. Anyway, thank you for your kind words, and as to alterations to canon, I'm trying. I just don't feel like some stuff has to be changed and I want to keep it. On the other hand, there's a lot of new stuff I want to introduce, and the farther I get into it, believe me when I say that the more stuff will change. As to your request for Vivi to join...well I'll consider it. But don't get your hopes up, as while I do plan on adding more crewmembers, anywhere from two to four, Vivi just doesn't seem to be in the cards. I apologize for disappointing you. Luffy's bounty will be higher, scroll down, you'll see. Finally, thank you for your review and I hope to continue to hear from you.

Gmann: Okay...(Is unsure what to say at first). Anyway, I made you laugh huh? That's good to hear, as I don't want my attempts at humor to fall flat, especially when it comes to One Piece, as it present me with the most opportunites to be funny. As to the voice of all things...no comment for now. Just about every addition to the manga will be included in the story, whether they're incorporated the way they were in canon or not is up in the air though. As for if there will be an Alabasta arc...well, without giving too much away, there will certainly be an arc concerning Crocodile.

Also, before we get to the next chapter, I'd like to discuss something. I took a look at the layout of Going Merry, not realizing until now that I could have found a picture of it so easily. Looking at it, I realize I didn't keep entirely true to it so far, seeing as the girl's room is accessed by stairs and a hatch that leads up to the storage room. Not to mention the hole Luffy put in the wall would lead to the emergency passage that leads to the boy's room, not another room like I had put down. I will fix that at a later date, when I go back and polish the chapters even further, though that will be a long time from now. With that said, please try to be patient with me, as I do my best to stay faithful to the layout of the Merry. I will do my very best to keep to the layout in this and all future chapters.

Considering the fact that no one said anything about this, I'm assuming you all were just being polite by not pointing out the error I made. And while I do appreciate all of your kindness, if you see I've made an error as to the layout of an area, please let me know. As long as you aren't rude about it, believe me, I will not be upset. In fact, I would greatly appreciate knowing of the error so I can correct it. Why? Because I love One Piece with all my heart, and want to do everything I can to keep true to the series. I'm messing with strength levels, plotlines, character ages, the order of events and just the timeline in general, because that is what an AU story is about. The layout of the Merry however, there's no reason for that to be different, seeing as nothing happened to change it. Although I'll tell you right now, when they get the Sunny, it will include an extra room not in the original design. As to what that room will be...that's for me to know and all of you to find out.

Something else to put here, unrelated to what I was just talking about, but I'm gonna put it in here anyway. Chapters one through nine were basically the prologue, while chapters ten through twenty seven served as the first season. In otherwords, last chapter was the final episode of season one, while this chapter is the first episode of season two.. Just felt like putting that out there.

One last thing guys, as of this chapter a month has officially passed in the story. Meaning this chapter takes place on Febuary fifth, three months before Luffy originally set out in canon, and a month after he set out in this story.

Okay, here we are, the first chapter of season two. It's not much, but it's gearing up for the next series of events at least. Please read, review and enjoy.

* * *

Several days had passed since the Strawhats had left Cocoyashi, and since then it had been nothing but peaceful. There was no longer any drama between Luffy and Nami, no tears or anger, nor broken hearts, if you exclude Sanji that is. On top of that, they hadn't seen battle since the navigator's island either. Things were quite calm, as they made their way toward their destination, the Grand Line. Which allowed them a rest from all the crap they had dealt with island from island after having gotten the original three of them together. Though they all used this time differently.

Zoro was napping peacefully near the stern of the ship, his legs crossed and his swords resting at his side.

Sanji stood guard over the three tangerine trees Nami had brought on board, all too happy to protect them for her.

Luffy was currently sneaking around the blonde, getting ready to steal one of the tangerines right out from under his nose.

Usopp was sitting on the deck, busy concocting a new type of projectile for his slingshot, which he dubbed the 'Tobasco Star'.

And Nami, who was now wearing a short sleeve blue shirt with a v-neck collar, along with that blue skirt from before, was relaxing in a lawn chair near the bow of the ship. She was barefoot, having not bothered to put her boot-like gladiator sandals on today, as she basked in the pleasant weather.

That was when a medium sized seagull cooed, letting it's presence be known, as it came to land on the railing of the ship, near Nami. It wore a white cap and had small bag over it's right shoulder, showing it was a News Coo.

Upon seeing it, Nami got out of her chair and approached it, pulling a berri coin out as she did, so she could pay for the paper. As she tried to hand it over, the bird shook it's head at her, letting her know the same way it had in the past that the amount wasn't enough. "You've raised your prices again?" She questioned, clearyly annoyed by this. As it nodded it's head to confirm that, a frown crossed the cartographer's face. "The price for a newspaper's getting a little steep, don't ya think?" She didn't recieve an answer that time, which only annoyed her further. She did want the paper however, so she put the coin away and produced another one, this one of greater value. Handing it over, she took the day's newspaper from the bird, warning it as she did. "Raise your prices again and I'll stop paying." She recieved a nod from it at that, before it returned to the air and took off.

Usopp, who had heard all this since he was barely even ten feet away, couldn't help but ask why she seemed so aggravated over this. Though he didn't turn around to do so, in the middle of proportioning the Tobasco Star. "What's the big deal? It's just one paper."

"Just one paper? I buy these everyday." Nami told him, her annoyance clearly having not faded even a bit.

"Yeah, but there's no need to save every last berri so you can buy back your village from Arlong, ya know? You can finally stop obsessing about money." He said as he turned to face her, after having finished proportioning the tobasco sauce.

"You're so stupid." She told him bluntly, taking a page out of Luffy's book. "Now that that's over, I'm saving money for me now." She explained. "I have no intention of being one of those poor pirates who can't even afford to dress up. Besides, money makes the world go round ya know, so it wouldn't hurt to have some stashed away, just in case." She informed him, her aggravation now directed toward him.

"Okay okay, fine, just calm down a little. I'm in the middle of developing my special tobasco star, and I can't afford to have any distractions." He replied, trying to keep her from getting angry, not only because of what he was working on, but also because he didn't want to give her another reason to charge him, as he suspected that since she wanted to save money so badly, she would jump at the chance to get more berris out of him, or anybody else for that matter. Now that he thought of it, he should have seen this coming what with what happened right before they left Cocoyashi.

It seemed to work, as Nami just rolled her eyes and took her place back in her chair, dropping the subject as she did. Since this was the case, Usopp turned back to what he was doing, as he moved to the final step of creating the tobasco star, saying to himself as he did, "After all, an eyefull of this would send anybody running around screaming their-" Before he could finish speaking, Luffy's body collided with him, back first, knocking him back onto the deck, as well as dislodging the jar of tobasco sauce from his hands, causing a good deal of it to spill out onto his face, more specifcally his eyes, before it hit the deck. Thankfully the glass bottle didn't shatter, it only cracking, but that was the last thing on the sniper's mind, as he blinked a few times real quick, quite confused at first.

Just as he realized what happened, he was on his feet, running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, screaming at the top of his lungs because of how much the sauce burned his eyes. Even as he did this, no one really paid him any mind.

"Oh come on! I just want one of'em!" Luffy insisted, as he sat up after being kicked halfway across deck by Sanji, readjusting his hat as he did.

"No! This is Nami's tangerine orchard! I won't let anyone lay a finger on it!" Sanji proclaimed. "Nami, can you see how well I'm protecting your trees!?" He asked her excitedly then, his eyes morphing into hearts as he did.

Nami put the paper aside, not having gotten to open it yet, as she stood once more. "I can. But I think you're forgetting something." She said, as she began walking toward the three tangerine trees she had brought on board from her mother's grove before leaving Cocoyashi.

"And what is that my dear?" He asked her, his body beginning to sway a little as she drew closer to him.

"That Luffy's allowed to have one everyday." She answered as she came to a stop, picking a tangerine and proceeding to toss it Luffy's way, said rubberman catching it immediately. "Ah, thanks Nami!" He said gratefully, smiling at her as he did. She smiled in return, as he bit into it.

Sanji on the other hand wilted like a flower, nearly falling over at the scene, the hearts in his eyes vanishing as tears streamed down his face. "Right, I'm sorry Nami." He apologized, sounding quite pathetic as he did. Everytime he saw the two interact like this, all sweet like, he was reminded that the orange haired teen was taken and his heart would break all over again.

Looking to the blonde, Nami offered a few words of encouragement to cheer him up. "Beside that, you're doing a great job. So keep it up Sanji."

And just like that, Sanji was standing upright and at attention once more, the hearts back once again, though the tears continued to flow. "Of course my dear, anything for you!"

Zoro, who had been awoken by all the noise, shook his head at the scene. "Ol' Sanji's getting used, that poor bastard."

Usopp, who was still experiencing the agony of tobasco sauce in his eyes, finally got the idea to wash his eyes out, the pain having clouded his judgement up until now. So, still screaming his head off, he rushed past Luffy and Nami, who was on her way back to her chair, and down below deck into the storage room. From there he near broke the door down to the bathroom, it swinging shut after he charged in. Not wasting time, he turned on the faucet and began to feverently wash his eyes out, in hopes of not only bringing a stop to the pain, but to also prevent any permanent damage from occurring.

It took a few minutes, but he eventually managed to get the burning to stop. Once he had, he turned the faucet off and looked up at himself in the mirror. His eyes were quite raw, the area below them a deep red, just as his eyeballs were quite bloodshot. However that seemed to be the extent of it, there didn't seem to be any serious damage. And as he realized he could see just fine, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "That's better."

He dried his face with a handtowel before exiting the bathroom, closing the door behind him as he did. He then moved to go back up onto deck, before he could leave the storage room however, he noticed the hatch to Nami's room was just slightly ajar, leaving it the tiniest bit open. Seeing no reason to not close it, he stopped and then came over to it. As he took hold of it though, he couldn't help the feeling of curiosity that came over him. "I've never actually been down there have I? " He wondered to himself. "I've been to every part of the ship except down here." He thought to himself. "The ship was a gift from Kaya though, I owe it to her to see every room at least once, right?" He didn't recieve an answer to that, even though he had asked it aloud. Nevertheless, that didn't stop him from making the decision to go down there anyway. "I should see it before Nami changes it around too much." He told himself, as he opened the hatch fully and began to descend the stairs.

Once down there, he took in the layout of the room. The small bar that a carpenter from Cocoyashi had installed, a desk Nami was to draw maps at, a bookshelf next to it, a small closet next to that, a small sofa, a table in front of it and a treasure chest that Nami had brought on board beside the right arm of said sofa, the ceiling fan and hammock storage above and the few paintings hung on the wall. What really caught his eyes though, was the panel that hid the emergency exit that led to his and the other boy's room, more specifically, the hole that was in it.

* * *

As Nami finally got to open the paper, a loud screech of shock caught her attention, as well as the attention of Luffy, Zoro and Sanji. All eyes were on the door that led to the storage room, as Usopp burst out of it onto the deck, his cry coming to an end as he did.

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji all approached Usopp, who was standing near Nami after coming out to the deck.

"What are you screaming about?" Zoro questioned with a yawn, voicing the thoughts of Luffy and Sanji as he did.

"What's wrong Usopp?" Nami asked, taking her eyes off the paper to regard him.

"There's a hole in the wall down in Nami's room! A big one, the size of a fist!" He exclaimed frantically.

"Oh, is that all? Yeah, I did that." Luffy told the slightly older teen bluntly, clearly not thinking it was a big deal.

Usopp turned toward his captain then. "You what!? Why the hell would you do that Luffy!?" This ship is a gift from Kaya!" He shouted.

The rubberman shrugged at that. "I was angry." He spoke in a way that made it sound as if he thought it obvious.

"What kind of stupid reason is that!?" Usopp questioned.

"Wait a second, why were you down in my room in the first place?" Nami inquired with a quirked brow, a frown on her face. And as she said this, Sanji grew angry. "How dare you enter Nami's room without permnission!" He yelled at the curly haired teen, looking ready to kick him twice as hard as he did Luffy earlier.

Usopp realized just then that he had made a mistake, his anger being overcame by fear as he looked toward the sixteen year old cartographer, as well as the seventeen year old cook. "I-uh...well a-about that...you see I-uh you left the hatch open a bit. I went to close it an-and, well, I got curious. I wanted to see what the room looked like, since it was the only room I hadn't been in. It was a gift from Kaya s-so...I-um, wanted to see all of it from top to bottom. I didn't touch anything, I swear, i just looked!" He assured her.

Her eyes narrowed for a moment, as if she was scrutinizing him, but soon enough she let up, the frown disappearing as she went back to reading the paper, saying as she did so, "Whatever. Just don't let it happen again." Sanji didn't seem as if he wanted to forgive such a transgression so easily, but did not push it since Nami let it go.

With that settled, Usopp turned back to Luffy, his anger and aggravation returning immediately. "Back to the hole, do you know what you did? Not only am I going to have to fix that and explain to Kaya why it needed fixing, but you also could have caused us some serious problems!"

"Huh? How so?" Luffy asked, confused as to what his friend was talking about.

"Luffy, if that hole was in the opposite wall, we'd be taking on water right now! You could have caused a serious leak!" Usopp explained to him.

"Oh." Luffy said with recognition. "Yeah, that would have been bad." He admitted rather calmly.

"How could you say that so calmly!?" Usopp asked exasperatively.

As Zoro and Sanji moved to return to their spots, Nami was flipping through the pages of the paper, all three ignoring the marksman's little rant. However, as said young navigator got to a specific page, a piece of loose paper fell out, which floated down to the deck as it did. It caught her attention, as well as Luffy's and Usopp's, and as they realized what it was, they all three screamed. Only...Luffy's was one of excitement, Nami's was one of distress and Usopp's was one of shock.

* * *

Cocoyashi Village

"Hey Genzo, Nako, you two read today's paper?" Nojiko inquired, as she entered the house of the former.

"Today's paper? No, not yet." Nako answered, sitting at the table with his friend and host, the two having just been chatting about something.

"I haven't had the chance to pick it up myself. Why?" Genzo questioned. "Interesting story inside today?"

"Oh there was something interesting inside alright, but it was no story." She replied with a wry smile. "Here, take a look at this." She brandished Luffy's newly issued wanted poster then, placing it in the middle of the table for both men to clearly see.

"He's got a bounty already?" Nako asked more to himself than the other two, a bit of disbelief in his voice despite what he had seen the young man do. "And a sizeable reward too." He added.

"That amount's nothing to scoff at, that's for sure. But why such a high bounty in the first place? He did take out Arlong, but that alone couldn't have warranted this price, could it?" Genzo wondered aloud.

"Maybe not, but Nami did tell me about how he took out a corrupt marine captain and three other big name pirates before even coming here. Combine that with what he did here and the size of the bounty makes sense." Nojiko explained.

"Yeah, that would explain it." Genzo admitted, before a small frown crossed his face. "With a bounty like this the marines are sure to take notice of them." He remarked. "That boy better keep Nami safe." He said aloud without realizing it.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he will." Nojiko assured Genzo, having nothing but faith in the rubber pirate. And at her words, the scarred man couldn't help but think she was right, as he remembered all Luffy did for Nami, not only against Arlong, but also when they were children, the teenage girl not sparing any of the details when telling him about her time in Fusha. "I suppose you're right." Genzo conceded, a smile taking the place of his frown then.

* * *

The Baratie

Zeff was unable to wipe the smirk off his face, even as he chopped up a platter full of onions. As he had just recently found Luffy's wanted poster, said poster having put the smile on his face. Shortly after having found it, he had Patty and Carne hang it up for all to see in the restuarant, as he came back here to continue cooking, as the lunch rush had just hit. "That brat...he really is going to do it, I can feel it." The aging chef said to himself. "And I'm sure he'll guide you to your dream as well Sanji, the All Blue." His smile widened as he said this to himself as well. "You punks...I believe in you."

* * *

Syrup Village

"Miss! Miss Kaya, you have to see this, it's amazing!" Merry exclaimed excitedly, as he came running into the lady of the house's study.

"Huh? What is it Merry?" Kaya inquired, raising her head from the text book she had been reading to regard her butlet.

"Have you seen this poster?" He questioned, a large smile on his face as he handed said poster over to her.

Taking a look at said poster, a smile crossed the blonde girl's face. "It's Luffy, he's got a bounty now. I bet he's really happy about that." That's when she noticed something there in the background of the photo of the strawhat pirate, and as she realized what it was, her smile widened. "It's Usopp!" She suddenly said.

"Huh?" Merry muttered, confused as to what she was talking about.

She showed him the poster then, as she pointed out what she had seen. "See, that's definitely Usopp facing the other way!" She told him, now just as excited as he had been.

"But Miss, where is he? I don't see-" Merry cut himself off as he finally realized what Kaya was pointing at was indeed the back of Usopp's head covered by his bandanna. "Hey, you know what? You're right." He admitted, glad to do so.

Kaya stood then, placing the poster down on her desk as she did, before moving to the window, opening it and leaning forward onto the sill afterward. Breathing in the fresh air, she looked toward the ocean, more specifcally, the way that Usopp and Luffy had sailed off in. "This is great news! Usopp and Luffy are moving toward their dreams!" She went silent then for a few moments, her smile widening even further, Merry watching her allthewhile, a wide smile on his face as well.

"I'm chasing after my dream too, so don't worry you two. When we meet again, we'll all be the people we've always wanted to be." She proclaimed with certainty.

* * *

Shimotsuki Village

Koshiro sat in his empty dojo, having just let his students leave for the day, looking at the bounty poster he had found in the newspaper as he thought back to his time in Fusha. He remembered Luffy well, seeing as he was Zoro's best friend and proclaimed brother, as well as the fact that he had not only made friends with his daughter, but also had warmed her icy attitude a little. He had known of the boy's dream, but had not judged him for it, as he saw first hand what kind of person he was. Besides..."A pirates does not an evil person make." The swordmaster spoke softly to himself.

A smile appeared on his face then, as he asked aloud to no one in particular, "So Zoro, how long until you've got one of these of your own I wonder?"

* * *

Fusha Village

Partys bar was as rowdy as ever, as near the entire village was packed into the establishement, celebrating Luffy's first bounty. "TO LUFFY!" One man exclaimed, standing on one of the tables, a drink in his hand.

As the other villagers joined in the toast, chanting Luffy's name, Woopslap entered the building, looking quite grumpy as he did. "Shut up you idiots! The fact that a no good criminal came from our village is nothing to be proud of!" He reprimanded, only to be ignored as they partied on.

With no one even pretending to listen to him, Woopslap muttered angrily to himself as he went and took a seat at the countertop where Makino was at. Makino wouldn't just let him be of course, as she came over to him and showed him the poster. "Just look at him Mayor, he's so happy. Can you honestly say that seeing him like that doesn't make you happy too, like the rest of us?" She inquired, a bright smile on her as she did.

Woopslap hmphed at that. "Of course it doesn't, a pirate's a pirate, no matter who they used to be." He replied stubbornly.

"Stubborn shortshit." That remark called attention to the person who had just entered the bar, Dadan. Her appearance in the village startled many a villager, but none dared say anything, lest she retaliate. Nevertheless, all the rowdy merriment came to a stop as she showed herself.

"Foul-mouthed insults? I'd expect nothing less from a bandit such as yourself." Woopslap responded to her jab at him, a scowl on his face.

The large woman just waved him off, which was unusal for her. Then again, she had more important things to focus on, not to mention more pleasant. "Let me see that."

Makino gladly obliged, handing the poster over to her, so she could examine it. As she did, Woopslap asked the obvious question, "Why have you come down from the mountain Dadan?"

"The boys are hogging the one we got, so I decided to come down here and take a look at the one Makino surely had." She answered the agitated old man, her smile widening as she took in the poster.

Her desire to see Luffy's bounty sated, she handed the poster back to Makino, who moved to pin it up. As the green haired barmaid did so, she said quietly to herself, "I hope you never lose that smile Luffy."

"Thanks Makino." Dadan said, before turning and moving to leave. "Don't you all piss your pants, I'm leaving." She told the rest of the patrons, exiting the establishment just a moment later.

* * *

Marine Headquarters

Garp, who had greyed considerebly since Luffy was eight, sat alone on the grass near a small pond, having slipped away from a certain superior, as he finally took a good long look at his grandson's first ever wanted poster. Staring at the straw hat wearing teen's smiling face, in spite of the dread he felt about what the future might bring, he couldn't help the large smirk that came across his face. "Look's like you've finally begun your career as a pirate Luffy. And the size of your first bounty is pretty good too." Unable to help himself, his grin turned to an even wider smile, as he began to laugh boisterously. "Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Despite what he had planned and wanted for Luffy, he still felt proud of his grandson, even if he didn't agree with the path he was taking.

* * *

At an undisclosed location, on an unknown island

A young man, who appeared roughly nineteen years of age, stood on a small hill overlooking a wasteland. He stood six feet tall, had light to fair skin, a lean and somewhat muscular physique, shaggy mid-neck length blonde hair and a scar over his left eye. His attire consisted of a long sleeve blue shirt, a vest over that of similar color, a long black jacket with a buckle on the left sleeve, a frilled cravat and brown gloves. As well as minorly loose light blue pants, a simple black belt, and black boots wrapped with buckles and cloth bracings. The most interesting article however sat atop his head, a black top hat with goggles wrapped around it.

This young man wore a proud grin, as he stared down at the bounty poster he held in his hands. "This bounty you've acquired...it means you've taken the first step down the path to becoming Pirate King. I know you can do it Luffy." The teenager said to himself, before turning to face his two companions who were already ahead of him.

Catching up to the two, he presented the poster to them. "Dragon, Kuma, you two've gotta see this."

The largest of the three, Kuma, made no move to truly get a good look at it despite the fact that it was nearly sixteen feet below his head, though there was a tiny spark of recognition in his milky eyes as he saw it. "It seems the boy has finally set out." He remarked evenly, apparently not needing to look too hard to recognize who picture was of.

Dragon on the other hand took the poster, so he could examine it. As he did, a smirk close to the size of the teen's who gave it to him appeared on his face. "It seems the path you chose so long ago is indeed the one you intend to follow. Show me your conviction, my son." He spoke almost wistfully then, as if he had been waiting a long time for this. But as soon as it had come, it had gone as well, as his voice returned to it's usual baritone. "It's good to see his face again, but we have work to do. Now come." He ordered, as he handed the poster back to the blonde teen and continued on the trail he had been walking moments ago. As he did, he thought to himself, "Perhaps, if all goes well here, I can be there to see him off."

In spite of the imposing man's order, both of his companions lagged behind, as the larger of the two watched as the shorter one stared down at the poster. He seemed entranced by it, enraptured almost, his grin just refusing to die as he looked down at it. Seeing this distracted state, Kuma decided to break him from it. "Sabo, Dragon has given us an order. Let us follow it."

Those words broke Sabo from his trance, his eyes removing themselves from the poster and moving up to his friend's face. "Heh, yeah, sorry about that." He said with a nervous chuckle. "Let's go." With that he followed after Dragon, letting go of the bounty poster as he did, causing it to slowly begin floating to the dust and debris covered ground.

Just as said piece of paper hit the ground, the towering man leaned down to grab it. Once he had ahold of it, he stood to his full height as he brought it closer to his face, to really get a good look at it. He managed to do this even though the poster was barely a fraction of the size of the giant hand he picked it up with.

"Do you truly have the strength to survive in this world?" Kuma inquired to the photo of the smiling Luffy, as if it would give him an answer. After several seconds of waiting though, and no answer came, he let go of the poster and let it be blown away in the sudden gust of wind. And as it did, he turned and followed after his fellow revolutionaries.

* * *

Somewhere on the Grand Line, aboard the Moby Dick

Ace, now twenty years old, leaned on the railing of the gargantuan ship he was aboard, a large grin present on his face as he stared at the piece of paper in his hands. Now all but fully grown, he looked a good deal different. He stood six one, was lean and muscular, had mid-neck length black hair and had two tattoos, one on his left bicep and one on his back. The first was bold black lettering, ASCE, with a line through the s. While the second was the mark of the Whitebeard pirates. As for his clothing, he wore black knee length shorts with a studded light orange belt, a second short belt of similar color with a silver belt buckle and red A worn over his right hip , which was left unfastened and the free end of it was threaded along the back of his shorts. Then there was a blue pouch belted around his left leg, a green knife sheath hung at his right hip with a knife resting within it, and there was a red and white striped bracelet around his wrist, a log pose above that. He also had a single light orange elbow guard on his left arm, a pair of black hiking boots, a red beaded necklace and finally, a light orange hat affixed with two blue smileys, one frowning and the other smiling and a string of red beads sitting above the rim. Two large orange side straps hung down from the inside of his hat and met down at his midsection in a large medallion of a bull's skull with a single long orange tassel.

Now, as to why the paper he held in his hands had him grinning so wide, it was Luffy's bounty poster. "Looks like you've finally started your journey, huh Luffy?"

Moving away from the railing, the young man approached two individuals, calling to them as he did. "Pops, Marco, you guys have gotta see this."

These two he spoke to turned to look at him as he came toward them.

The first of the two, the one called Marco, stood just a little over six one, had a lean and muscular build, light skin, blonde hair in a unique hairstyle, a bit of dark stubble on his chin and a dark blue tattoo on his abdomen, which was of a cross and a crescent moon that faced upward intersecting. As for what he wore, an open purple jacket, dark blue pants, a light blue sash adorned with a black and gold belt, and a pair of black sandals.

The second of the two, who Ace referred to as Pops, would have stood roughly eighteen feet tall if he was standing up, the man sitting in a chair befitting his size at the moment. His physique was extremely muscular, he had countless scars running across his torso, light skin and a large white crescent shaped mustache. And his attire was made up of a black bandanna, a white captain's coat with his jolly roger on the back, said coat worn loosely around his shoulders, a dark purple sash with a black tint, and somewhat baggy tan pants tucked into large black boots.

"What's up Ace?" Marco questioned, wondering what he was talking about, as the large man simply regarded the twenty year old silently.

"Look what was in today's paper." He said excitedly, as he brandished the paper to Marco and the man he called Pops, pointing specifically at Luffy's smiling face as he did. "It's Luffy's first bounty." His grin grew wider as he said that.

"Your brother? He's got a bounty already?" Marco asked, as he looked the piece of paper over. "And it's a sizeable one too, at least as far as first bounties go anyway. Even more so when you consider he's still in the East Blue." He remarked.

"Yeah, I know. His first bounty is even bigger than my first one was too! Talk about making a first impression." He said with a hearty chuckle, causing the other two to begin grinning as well. "Though it's not even a tenth of my current bounty, so he still has a ways to go before he even reaches my level."

"Considering he's your brother, this comes as no surprise to me my son." The much larger man spoke, entering the conversation. "Besides, you said his dream is to become the Pirate King, right? Then this is only the beginning for him. To claim such a title he will have to surpass even me. So if he truly possesses the will to reach that dream, the will you've told us he has, then it is only a matter of time before he closes the gap between you." He told Ace sagely.

The twenty year old couldn't help but laugh at that. "I know, which is why I gotta get stronger. I can't have my little brother showing me up after all."

* * *

Somewhere on the Grand Line, on an unknown island

Shanks sat under the shade of a tree, his head down and his eyes closed, Ben, Yasopp and Lucky not far from him, as he nursed the hangover he had. All was quiet even though near half the crew sat in the clearing they were in, so as not to aggravate anyone's migraines, more specifically their captain's.

This silence was soon broken however, as another member of their crew came running into the clearing. He tried to skid to a stop as he reached Shanks, but failed and ended up falling onto all fours, panting as he was out of breath from getting to him. Not a moment after this happened, the red haired man had put a mug of water down for his crewmate, who gulped it down greedily. As soon as he was done, he spoke the words he had rushed over here to say, "Boss, it's Hawkeye!" Not so much as a nanosecond passed after the man said that, before the person he was talking about appeared behind him.

This man, known as Hawkeye, stood six foot six with a lean and muscular build, had pale skin, raven hair, a short beard accompanied by a mustache and sideburns that appeared to point upwards, and, his most distinguishing feature, intense golden colored irises. As to his apparel, he sported a wide rimmed black hat decorated with a large light green plume, a long open black coat with red floral patterned collar and sleeves, a pair of light purple tinted grey pants, which were tucked into black boots with brown straps, a decoartive brown belt and a gold crucifix pendant. He also carried a very large sword on his back.

The member of Shanks's crew who had come to warn him of Mihawk's arrival noticed the presence behind him immediately, and proceeded to scramble away in fear. As he did, the man himself appeared indifferent. While Shanks himself on the other hand, he lifted his head and greeted the imposing man. "Hey there Hawkeye. To what do I owe the pleasure? Have you come to fight? If you have you're gonna be disappointed, cause ya know, I'm not feeling so good at the moment."

The look of indifference failed to fade from the man as he responded. "Hmph. Now that you no longer have your left arm, I have no intention of settling the score." With that stated, he brandished a piece of paper. "I recently recieved this wanted poster, and upon seeing who it was of, I recalled a story you used to tell. A story about a boy, a strange boy from a small village, who vowed to become the next Pirate King." He showed the poster to the red haired pirate then.

"Luffy, you made it." Shanks thought to himself, Ben, Yasopp and Lucky thinking the same thing from where they sat.

The one armed man chuckled then, "Alright then Hawkeye, in that case...I'm afraid I can't let you just leave, not now." At those ominous words, many of the red haired pirate's crew thought a battle was going to take place and that they needed to move quick, lest they get caught up in it. However they were proven wrong, as Shanks proceeded to slam a mug down before Mihawk, before motioning for him to sit down, to which the man, surprisingly, complied, putting the poster away as he did.

"Go on Hawkeye, drink up. It's time for a celebration!" Shanks declared, a wide smile crossing his face, pouring booze into the mug allthewhile.

Having noticed what kind of state he was in, Mihawk questioned, "Aren't you already hungover?"

Shanks looked almost offened at that, before his face splitting grin returned. "What? No way! I'm too excited to be hung over now! So come on, drink it." He insisted. And as Mihawk seemed to give in, lifting the mug, Shanks continued egging him on. "Drink, drink, drink!"

Finally it was at his lips and he began drinking the alcohol, and as he did, Shanks couldn't be more ecstatic. "That's it!" He glanced around at alll the crewmates he had in the area, before crying out, "Everybody, LET'S GET DRUNK!"

"Huh? But Boss, I thought you said you felt like crap because you drank too much last night." One of his crewmates reminded him.

"Don't be stupid, I can't not drink on a joyous day like today!" Was his rebuttal to that.

"But the sun is still high." Mihawk said, giving a final protest, as if the fact that mentioning it was too early to be drinking would actually get the happy go lucky pirate to rethink his actions.

It didn't of course. "Don't sweat it! Time to party!" Shanks exclaimed joyously.

* * *

Zoro, Usopp, Nami and Luffy all stood in a broken semi-circle near the bow of the ship, Sanji a few feet away but his attention directed at them, the oldest two of them having stopped from going back to their original spots as they had wanted to see what the other three had been screaming about.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Alright guys, we're wanted criminals!" Luffy declared joyously with a round of laughter, as he held up his bounty for all to see.

"About time they issued a bounty for the future King of the Pirates." Zoro stated with a grin. At the same time though, as his eyes caught sight of the reward on his captain's head, in the back of his head, he thought to himself, "With that kind of money on the line, bounty hunters will undoubtedly be coming after us. And they'll be good ones too."

Usopp began to read the wanted poster aloud then."Strawhat Luffy, wanted dead or alive." His eyes glanced down to the reward then, "Fifty million berris!?" He near shouted in surprise, the shock of the amount nearly causing the marksman's eyes to bulge.

"That's a whole lotta berris!" Luffy shouted with glee before more rowdy laughter escaped him.

That was when Usopp noticed the back of his head in the picture. "Check it out, I'm there too! That means I'll be seen all around the world!"

"What!? They put long nose in but left me out!?" Sanji questioned disbelievinjgly, as he rushed over to check the poster out. After several seconds of examining though, "Where are you? I don't see you anywhere, you're not there!" The blonde insisted.

"Uh-huh." Usopp corrected him smugly, as he pointed himself out.

And just like that, Sanji was sitting almost ten feet away with his knees pulled to hs chest, sulking. "It's the back of your head, that's not so great." The blonde said sourly.

"Oh don't be so glum. You don't have to be a captain to get your picture on one of these things." Usopp informed him, his wide grin not leaving his face.

"Really? Is that true?" The cook inquired hopefully from where he sat.

"Yeah, you just gotta work really hard." The sniper assured him.

So elated and excited over this, Sanji jumped up and put his arm around Usopp's shoulders, the long nosed teen doing the same to the blonde, as the two proceeded ti do a little jig, singing all the while. "Grand Line, Grand Line, Grand Line!" They couldn't wait to get bounties of their own, therefor they couldn't wait to get to the Grand Line.

And Luffy felt exactly as they did. "Let's go to the Grand Line men!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"You guys don't understand just how bad this is do you?" Nami questioned, obviously annoyed by the fact that they were so happy about this. "This means all of our lives are going to be in constant danger from now on." She warned them, only to be ignored as they continued to revel. Even as they did, she didn't bother to yell at them, simply sighing in annoyance and aggravation. "This means people are going to be trying to kill Luffy on a daily basis." She thought to herself, making her sick to her stomach, though no one seemed to notice.

* * *

Before Shanks and his crew got too sloshed, Mihawk decided to address the other matter he had come here for. "There is something else I wish to discuss, before you become too drunk to properly speak." He stated.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Shanks asked.

"This boy, you said he had two companions that promised to become his crewmates. Do you believe they kept that promise?" The hawkeyed man inquired.

"There's no doubt in my mind that they did. In fact, I have a hunch that they're with him right now as we speak." Shanks answered, truly no doubt in his mind.

"I see." Was Mihawk's response. "And you said one of these companions was training to be swordsman, correct?"

"That's right. Roronoa Zoro was his name. He wasn't half bad, for en eight year old anyway. He only got better it seems, as he's got quite the reputation in the East Blue now. He's still got a long way to go before he can beat you though, that's for sure."

The golden eyed man seemed a tad confused at that statement, before he recalled Zoro's part in the story he had been told about Luffy. "Right, you said he dreamed of being the greatest swordsman in the world." That little detail raised his interest a fair bit, and if Shanks had been paying attention, he would have caught the barely there flash of curiosity in the swordsman's eyes.

"It only makes sense when you think about it, who better to be the first mate of the Pirate King then the world's greatest swordsman?" Shanks pointed out, his smile only widening as he reminisced about his time in Fusha. "Those two are quite the pair, they really are."

"Indeed." Mihawk said in agreement.

Then, suddenly, the world's greatest swordsman stood, leaving Shanks sitting on the ground as he turned to leave. "Heh? Leaving already Mihawk? But the party's only just begun! You got something you gotta do or...?" He questioned.

Mihawk came to a stop at that, before turning his head to look at his former rival. "I do. I have couple of pirates to visit." With that said, he turned back and continued on his way.

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**


	29. The Legend Of Woonan's Treasure

Johnny Spectre: Hmm maybe...I'm unsure. Whatever, as you said, it doesn't matter.

Tonlor: Thank you. Really? Wonder why it didn't show up in your alerts...whatever, not that big a deal. Well, here's more. XP

ImmortalComposer: Thank you. Now, as to why I don't watch One Piece subbed...man, I know I'm gonna get a lot of flak for this, but here goes. I cannot stand watching the original Japanese version. I can't understand a thing they're saying, their voices grate on my nerves, and I hate having to look down to read the subtitles, not only because I tend to miss something on the screen but I also just disdain them in general. I mean seriously, I turn subtitles off on everything I watch and every game I play, ninety nine percent of the time anyway, doesn't matter that it's in English and I don't have to look at them, they just annoy the hell outta me. The only time I use subtitles is when I'm playing One Piece games, as well as the new Digimon game, and more recently, when I'm watching the One Piece movies that Funimation has stated all too clearly that they have no interest in dubbing, though I'm only doing that so I have a grasp on them for when I write my versions of them. As far as I'm concerned, the only worse way to watch One Piece, to me anyway, then in Japanese, is 4KIDS's version, which I shudder just thinking about. I mean seriously, they could not have fucked that up more if they tried. Also, don't know why, but I also can't stand the Spanish and German Dubs, to me they're worse than the original Japanese, though not as bad as 4KIDS. No offense intended.

Thankfully I have the Funimation Dub to watch, which is so fricking superb it's near ridiculous. Every time a new character is revealed and I hear their voice, oh man, it's just so good. True there have been a few times that I questioned their choice as far as one character or another goes, such as Kuma, but they always end up winning me over in the end with their spectacular performance. Now with that said, please don't misunderstand, I have nothing against people who do watch it subbed. Whether they do it so they can keep up with where the series is at, or they just don't like the dub, it's fine with me. Everyone can watch One Piece the way they damn well please, as to each his own. I myself just can't do it, at least not for long, as I just don't like it. I don't like it even a little bit. I mean I turn off the voices when I play the Pirate Warriors series and Unlimited World Red. That should tell you how I feel about that. Anyway, as I was saying, I mean no disrespect or offense, I just don't do sub. I've tried many a time, but I just can't do it. And then there's the fact that I also love the Funimation dub, so...yeah.

Now I know when this chapter goes up there are going to be a lot of people who want my head on a platter, as for some reason there are individuals who think preferring the dub is a sin of the highest caliber, which wouldn't matter to me anyway even if it was seeing as I'm kind of an Athiest, but I'm just stating my opinion here. This is not fact, never claimed it was nor will I ever. It is my preference, that is all. Just as everyone else has their way of watching One Piece, I have my own, and that is the Funimation way. So I hope there are no hard feelings over this, and if I did offend anyone, then you have my sincerest apologies.

F-ckthesystem125: Yes they do. Yes he is. No you don't. And thank you, I will.

Lightningblade49: Where will it take place? Well...let's just say it will replace a certain other encounter.

Gmann: Has Luffy gotten around the setbacks of Second Gear and Third Gear? I haven't even revealed whether he's learned how to use them or not, so...no. As for Fourth Gear appearing before the timeskip, I had already thought of that but I'm not sure whether I'll do it or not. I'm leaning towards not, but there have been a lot of times that I've been struck by an idea for an awesome scene or battle to be put in that wasn't originally going to be in while in the middle of a chapter, so you never know. On the subject of safe sex, I have no comment other than this, Chopper will prevent Nami from getting pregnant. To Usopp growing a spine...well I wouldn't say he doesn't have a spine, just that he doesn't use it very often. And whether he will be using it more in my story, yes, but it will be a slow process and his cowardice will take a very long time to fully go away, if it ever does. Haki questions, I'll say this to them, there will be more members that can use one form of Haki or another other than the monster trio, and for Luffy becoming evil, of course not. That isn't to say that he won't become more vicious in combat however... or that his mercy will start wearing thin. After all, someone can only take so much before they get fed up. Lastly, I doubt I'm going to give any member of the crew a devil fruit that doesn't already have one. If I decide to kill off Absalom though, I'll have no choice as it would be very out of character for Sanji to not eat the Clear Clear Fruit.

HP-DG-SB: Can't blame you for that, as thirty million wasn't all too impressive considering who he had taken down. Yes he is, as to when that visit will take place...that's for me to know and for you all to find out, heh heh. As to the sidestories, there will only be two or three chapters dedicated to side stories, in the East Blue at least, one for Coby and Helmeppo, then one for Buggy. The third will be something a little more original. I'll make sure to take you up on that eventually, as I could always use someone to chat with. Glad you liked Garp's inclusion. And thank you for your kind words.

Jaesom: Glad you do. And truly? My story is doing that? I'm unsure of what to say...I'm so very happy my story could do that for you. Really, I am. :) As for original arcs, yes there will be some, I have several planned so far, all to take place before the timeskip. To going into more detail about the timeskip, eh...probably not. When they all start their two year training regimen, I think I'll leave it at that and just continue on. However, if you mean timeskip as in the time between islands, then yes, I will occasionally delve deeper into that kind of thing, as there will be several chapters aboard the ship. And I'll do my best.

Revan3363: Thank you. Yes it does. I'll do my best.

Halfrican18: Really? So do I actually. I love getting lost in a story as well, I really do. And thank you oh so very much, your kind words mean a lot to me. Well I'm glad you decided to review anyway, and you're right, it does feel ever so good to get positive feedback. Addicted you say? Didn't know I could hook someone like that...so very glad I can though! And I eagerly await to write those and a few other events I have in mind. Please don't die, I wouldn't want to lose such a kind reader. The spirit world having computers...well I certainly hope so! XD I will keep writing this, don't you worry. And if I do need help, well I've got a friend or two I can ask, *coughF-ckthesystem125cough*, and now I've also got you as well, that's nice. Though I'm not sure I'll need help...at least not with plot ideas or anything, cause I have a lot of them. So many that I've got five other One Piece stories planned besides this one. And I agree, such a thing is quite heartbreaking, but I don't know if I'd call my story a masterpiece...I mean, we're not even out of the East Blue yet.

Quick note, I watched the first One Piece movie before beginning on this chapter, subtitled since there's no dub of it. Didn't want to, but I had to since I needed to see firsthand what happened. And just let me say this, wow, I didn't know that would be so...so...disappointing. I mean seriously, I'm not quite sure what I was expecting but that certainly wasn't it. Needless to say, I have no intention of recreating that so...don't expect things to follow the same path here.

Another thing, would have had this chapter up a month ago, but a bunch of bullshit kept me from finishing it. Such as being dragged on a shitty vacation and moving, again! Man I am getting sick of moving so much. Anywhore-woops, I mean anyway...moving on.

Now then, the first movie chapter is here! Let me know what you think. Also, last thing, this is even longer than the climax of the Arlong arc. Which means it now stands as the longest chapter I've ever written for any story ever, and the longest chapter for this story. Now with that said, on with the movie/chapter. Don't forget to read, review and enjoy!

* * *

Aboard the Merry, down in Nami's room, she tossed and turned in her hammock, unable to enter a state of restful sleep. Beads of sweat had formed and were sliding down her forehead, as she struggled uselessly with a nonexistent entity. "No...no...no..." She mumbled, as her false struggle intensified.

_"I'll protect you Nami!"_

"No...don't..."

_"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Protect her? You can't even protect yourself! You stupid, weak, pathetic human!"_

"Luffy get away...too strong..."

_"I won't let you hurt her anymore! Time to pay Arlong!"_

"Kill...he'll kill you...please Luffy stay away..."

_"You actually think you can win!? I AM A MIGHTY FISHMAN! I WILL TEAR YOU APART!"_

_"You're the one who's gonna be torn apart! GUM GUM GATLING!" With a crash and a bang and a flurry of fists, the battle was decided._

"Luffy...?"

_"Arlong Park has fallen, it's over!"_

"You did it...Luffy I..."

_"Strawhat Luffy, surrender now or we will be forced to open fire!"_

"The Marines...?"

_"That won't work on me, I'm rubber!"_

_"Draw your swords men!"_

"Careful Luffy..."

_"You guys can't beat me!"_

_"Don't let up, keep at him!"_

"Luffy you...wait...behind you...behind you Luffy. Look out!" The sixteen year old nearly fell out of her hammock then, trying to jump to the dream Luffy.

_"Can't catch me that easily!" Luffy taunted with a cheeky grin, as he tumbled out of the way before springing back up and stretching his leg to Gum Gum Stamp the marine who had tried to get him from behind._

_"Damn it! The first tactic failed, initiate the second!" The marine who was in charge barked, the others following his instructions and shifting formation, before proceeding to charge their rubber target._

"I said be careful Luffy...listen to me...already..."

_"Don't worry so much Nami! These guys can't beat me!" Luffy assured her, before bowling a couple dozen of them down with a running Gatling. _

_"Stop letting him clobber you! Get up and take him down!" The marine in charge shouted at his men._

_"Hahahah! Try it!" Luffy laughed at them._

_Suddenly then, reinforcements arrived, a battleship in tow. "Reinforcements have arrived! We can do this now! Give it all you got and just keep at him untl he cracks! Charge men!"_

_As over a hundred marines rushed Luffy, the battleship began to fire on Cocoyashi._

"The village! Nojiko...Genzo...Nako...everyone will be killed! Stop it, stop it now!"

_"You bastards!" Luffy yelled, before leaping into action to begin intercepting the cannonballs, kicking them back, punching them back and flinging them back with his rubber body. _

_As he did this, the marines continued to try and get at him, but continously failed anyways. This came to an end however, as one marine in particular got behind Luffy, having been hiding in his blindspot, and proceeded to impale him on his blade the moment his feet touched the ground, the teen having been in between jumps to knock cannonballs back. _

"Luffy!

_"Wha-ugh!" Looking down he saw the sword that he had been run through with, blood beginning to gather in his mouth, before beginning to overflow and come running out._

_"You were so concerned about protecting the village that you let me get behind you, how careless and stupid of you." The marine that had stabbed him said with a smug grin._

_"Now's the time, converge on him men!" The marine commander instructed his men._

"No! No...no...no! This can't be happening...! It just can't!"

_"This is it for you pirate. You should have seen it coming, after all, your poster says wanted dead or alive." The marine said venomously, putting extra emhpasis on the word or as he did._

_"I...won't be beaten...like this!" Luffy got out through gritted teeth, before forcing the blade back out of him, the force of his pushing causing the marine to stumble back with sword in hand. The rubber teen then whirled to face the marine, knocking him out with a stretched out punch, his head hitting the ground with a loud thunk, his eyes rolling back into his head. Just as he did this though, a dozen other marines had surrounded him and had thrust their own swords at him...and...he couldn't hope to avoid all of them with only a moment of time to react._

_While he was able to pull his stretched out fist toward them and ram it into the side of some of their heads, it only ended up reducing the damage done, as he was skewered by eight blades. With a cry of pain from Luffy, it was obvious to all he had been seriously injured, blood beginning to ooze from eight other wounds beside the one in his chest. Several of his vital organs had been pierced, which made the blood that was flowing out of his body the least of his worries._

"NO! Please stop! Stop it! Stop it!"

_Even with the condition he was in, the straw hat wearing sixteen year old wasn't about to just drop dead, and proved that as he shouted in anger and clobbered the marines, their swords forcibly removed from his flesh as they hit the ground. __Hurt, angry and losing blood, Luffy proceeded to do battle with the rest of the large number of remaining marines, regardless of the state he was in. And while it took a good few minutes, he was able to succesfully take them all out, leaving over a hundred unconscious, bruised and bloody marines lying about. _

_Stumbling about, he turned towards Nami and began to advance. "Now we just gotta...take care of that...battleship..."_

"Battleship? Forget that! You need help! You need a doctor!"

_"I'm fine Nami...really I am. Don't worry." He tried to assure her with a smile, but as more blood fell from his mouth it failed to have the proper comforting effect. _

_Before she could retort to that, everything around them went dark. The ground, the marines, the village, even the ocean and battleship in the distance, they all faded away until nothing but pitch black darkness remained. The only things she could see were herself and Luffy, which wasn't good in the slightest, especially since the raven haired boy was so injured. _

_He faltered then, stumbling more visibly before falling on his face. She moved to try and help him to his feet, as he struggled just to get to his knees, when something emerged from the blackness. She failed to notice it at first, but as she was halfway through helping Luffy, her eyes went to what was ahead of her, her arms still supporting her lover, and she saw it._

_It was large, seven maybe eight feet tall, though it was thin, skeletal even, with large baggy clothes. She couldn't make out anymore than that, as it appeared as barely more than a shape in this blackness, blending in very well, looking like it was cut out of this all consuming darkness. No sooner than did she notice it, that it came racing towards her and Luffy, almost flying with the way it seemed to not touch the ground._

_Eyes widening in fear, she opened her mouth to warn Luffy, only as the first syllable came out of her mouth, the thing reached them and proceeded to impale Luffy on it's almost sword like arm, lifting him several feet into the air as it did. His cry of pain was pure torture to the orange haired navigator, but even it was preferable to what happened next._

_"Nami...I..." The thing, whatever it was, didn't appear to be here for Luffy. And it made this clear as it cut him off, by throwing it's arm to the side, this action causing Luffy to go flying off the blade and to hit the dark ground several feet away, dead on impact with a sickening snap, the teen's neck twisting at a strange angle._

_Before she could question how this was possible, as he was rubber and such a thing shouldn't be possible, the creature was upon her. As it was it began to, what seemed like, consume her, the blackness filling her vision. She fought back of course, but her struggle proved uselsss, as it failed to bear fruit and instead caused the darkness to overcome her faster. Even still, she continued her fight, opening her mouth to try and scream as she did, but being unable to voice her cries. This continued until she was completely entrapped, the last thing she saw before being taken over completely being that of Luffy's lifeless corpse._

"LUFFY!" Nami cried as she shot up in her hammock, causing it to swing back and forth violently. Tears were running down her face, her breathing was ragged and uneven, and her mind was struggling to ascertain whether that had been a dream or not.

It eventually came to the conclusion that it had been a dream, as after a few moments her breathing calmed and she began wiping away her tears. "It was...it was just a nightmare." She told herself comfortingly. Even still knowing that, she couldn't quash the overwhelming urge she felt to go see Luffy. It was the middle of the night though, and it wouldn't do to go barging into the boys's room, so she pushed it down as she lied back down.

Closing her eyes, she attempted to fall asleep once more. However, not more than a moment after she closed her eyes, she saw it again, the creature, Luffy with it's sword like arm through him, his lifeless corpse. Her eyes snapped open and they didn't intend to close again, at least not until that image faded, as she just couldn't bare that sight. This left her unable to sleep, so her eyes glued themselves to the ceiling, why there though, she was unsure.

After close to an hour of staring up at the ceiling, Nami was just unable to take it anymore, so she sat up. Climbing out of her hammock afterward, but undecided where she would go, the orange haired girl hesitated once her feet were on the ground. Her eyes wandered her room, taking in it's appearance shrouded in shadows for the first time, the desk, the chest, the couch, even the hole in the wall that Usopp had patched up with some spare boards, and the darkness and silence had her feeling a sense of deja vu, only...unlike most, she was able to place it immediately. It was if she was alone again, under Arlong's thumb, out on the sea to gather berris for him. It made her shudder. And that was when she felt as if she couldn't stay down here any longer, so proceeded to ascend the steps leading to the storage room, opening the hatch and coming out of her room.

Making sure to close the hatch to her room first, she wandered out of the storage room and out onto the deck. As she did the crisp night air hit her and she couldn't help but shiver, her attire of a simple skirt and a short sleeve shirt inadequate considering the temperature. While it wasn't freezing or anything, the chill in the air was undeniable. And as she felt it's effects on her body, she looked up at the star filled night sky, out of habit more than anything else really. However, as she took the time to really observe the night sky in all it's glory, without all of the suffering she had endured and would be forced to endure hanging over her head, she found the sight beautiful, just as she used to nearly a decade ago when she was but a child.

Also, while she gazed upward, she noted that no one was keeping watch. They had yet to assign anyone the task, and anytime someone volunteered it was done rather half-assed. So at some point they decided why even bother, as truly there wasn't anyone who really posed a threat to them, at least not in the East Blue anyway, Luffy had proven that single-handedly. Zoro had put some good effort into proving it as well. When they got to the Grand Line though, they would have to start taking that seriously, they all knew that.

Even with her thoughts centering around such a subject, the blackness of the sky invaded her mind, and even with the light of the stars and the moon, it was almost suffocating, especially so considering the nightmare she had just awoken from and the feelings it had invoked. All of it just made her need to see Luffy grow stronger, so much so that the urge was almost overwhelming. Since that was the case, the navigator finally gave in and moved to the mast, where another hatch lie, this one leading to the boys's room.

Opening it, she glanced down but was unable to see much beside the mast and the floor even with the moonlight and starlight combined. Nevertheless there was enough lighting to see what she was doing, so she began climbing down the handlebar like pegs attached to the mast, which acted like a ladder to get up out of and down into the boys room.

Once her feet touched the floor and she was able to let go of the mast, she turned around and took a moment to take in her surroundings the best she could with the amount of light she had. It wasn't the easiest thing to do, but she was able to make everything out. There was a small round table in front of a couch to her right, further back sat a closet like dresser with a wooden counter beside it, which barrels of water and bottles of different types of alcohol rested upon. To her left was the emergency passage to her room, a laundry basket, a large wooden bucket to put water in, a washboard so they could wash their clothes, a single painting on the wall and the four hammocks that each of the guys slept in.

Turning to face the four, her eyes focused in on Luffy alone, who was sleeping on his back and had his hat halfway off his head, he also had a bit of drool leaking from the corner of his mouth. Not the most ridiculous state she had seen him sleep in, so the sight didn't faze her in the slightest. However she didn't move to wake him, as what reason was there to do that? 'Because I had a bad dream? Great reason to wake your boyfriend up Nami.' She thought sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. 'How childish can you be.' She continued to chide herself. "I'm a big girl, I don't need to be comforted and coddled just because I had a nightmare." She said ever so quietly to herself.

Having managed to talk herself out of it, she turned back to the mast and prepared to climb it back up to the deck, but hesitated to do so for a moment. She had been frightened by that dream, quite a bit actually. She didn't want to be alone, not with the events of said dream still replaying themselves in her head. But neither did she wish to wake Luffy and bother him with a stupid thing like this. She was certain he wouldn't mind, but that didn't change the fact that she was being childish and that she didn't want anyone knowing about it. Besides, Luffy defeated the real monster that had been tormenting her not even two weeks ago, so waking him up now over an imaginary one would seem rather silly.

And she certainly wasn't going to wake up one of the other three, no matter how much she wanted some company right now. She could just hear their reactions now...

Zoro, "You're kidding right? You mean you actually woke me up for that? Go back to bed you big baby." A bit harsh, but considering their relationship that was the response she was sure she would get. Besides, being alone with Zoro, in the middle of the ocean, at night? The thought made her want to gag.

Sanji, "A nightmare? Oh of course I'll keep you company! A woman must be comforted when she is scared! I will stay with you till the break of dawn and forever after Nami my sweet!" His weird heart eyes were certain to accompany that response. Plus he'd end up waking everyone else in the process. And...well, she really did not want to hear his attempts at being charming all night long.

Usopp, "You had a bad dream? Wh-why would you wake me up? I mean wouldn't Luffy or Sanji be better at this kind of thing? Even Zoro-okay maybe not Zoro, but still. Why me? You don't want Sanji waking everyone else up and you don't want to bug Luffy? But I'm sure he wouldn't mi-okay, okay, just don't start yelling. I'll stay up with you. Sheesh. Now, I've heard the best way to deal with a nightmare is to talk about it, so go ahead and tell me what happened." Yeah she could certainly get him to agree, but it'd cause a decent bit of noise and could end up waking one of the other three up. And beside that, well there was a good chance that he'd get scared from what happened in her nightmare as well, even if they were just talking about it. Having someone else with her who was also freaked out really wouldn't be much better in the end.

So she really didn't have any options. Since that was the case, she moved to climb the mast once more, her hesitation gone. But just before she could get her first foot up and onto one of the pegs, a voice caught her attention. "Nami?"

Letting go of the mast, she turned to look at who had spoken her name, to see Luffy now awake. "Are you okay?" He inquired, worry in his eyes.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Perfectly fine." She tried to assure him, a small, somewhat forced smile crossing her face.

"Why are you down here?" He asked then, as he adjusted his hat so that it sat on his head correctly, wiping the drool away at the same time as he did.

"It's stupid, don't worry about it." She told him with a slightly forced chuckle, waving it off as she did.

A small frown crossed the rubberman's face as he sat up. "If it was stupid, you wouldn't be down here. So tell me."

"It's nothing Luffy, honestly. Just go back to sleep." She said, trying to get him to drop the subject, as she turned to climb the mast up onto deck.

Before she could make any headway however, Luffy slipped out of his hammock, his feet hitting the floor with a barely audible thud, the fact that he wasn't wearing his sandals attributed to this near silent movement. And while this thud was ever so quiet, since Nami was awake, unlike the other occupants of this room beside Luffy, the small noise amidst the silence easily caught her attention.

Nami sighed then, feeling a twinge of annoyance at both herself and Luffy. The annoyance she felt with herself was from waking him, the annoyance she felt with him was for waking up in the first place. "Look Luffy-"

He cut her off, having closed the distance between them, as he proceeded to poke her forehead with his index and middle fingers of his right hand. As to why such an action caused her to go silent, well, it surprised her first and foremost. Second of all, while it hadn't hurt of course, it was an action akin to her flicking him when he was younger, to stop him from doing something stupid. And as she realized that, she was dumbfounded, as Luffy had never done that to her before, ever.

"Stop it." He ordered.

"Huh?" She questioned, ever so confused, it showing on her face as she stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"Stop hiding your feelings away. You pretend that everything's okay when it really isn't. Stop doing that." He told her, as his eyes stared piercingly into her own. "You finally dropped the act at Cocoyashi, but now here you are doing it again. Why?" He asked simply.

"I-I...uh, Luffy...I just..." She tripped over her words, unsure of how to answer that question.

"Did I do something to upset you?" He inquired further.

"What!? No, of course not!" She whispered harshly.

"Then why won't you tell me what's wrong?" He questioned.

Nami looked away from him at that, unconsciously biting her bottom lip, as she thought over how to answer that. "I just...didn't want to bother you over something so stupid. You've done so much for me, even back when we were kids. You've taken on every problem I've ever had as your own, acting as if it's your burden to carry and not mine. I don't want to increase the weight of that burden any further, I don't want to drag you down anymore." Tears had begun to gather in her eyes as she finished saying this.

"Nami..." Luffy breathed her name in shock, before his gaze hardened and he took a hold of her by her shoulders and made her look at him, his eyes burrowing into hers once more. "I don't know how to use a sword, I can't navigate, I can't cook and I couldn't even tell a lie to save my life. To carry the burdens of my crew, that's all I can do. That is my role as captain." He said this with such conviction and certainty, that Nami found herself unable to respond for several moments.

"Besides..." He continued with a smile. "What are friends for?"

"Luffy..." She whispered his name finally, her tears beginning to fall as she leaned forward to press her lips to his.

Shortly after their lips met however, they quickly pulled back, as they realized the room was full with the sound of sobbing, and it wasn't coming from Nami.

Turning to the others, they saw all three awake. And as for the sobbing, well, that was coming from Sanji. "Why!?" He questioned pathetically, as he stared at them, teary eyed as he sat up in his hammock.

Usopp looked a little indignant. "What did you mean by you can't lie!? Is that all I'm good for to you!?" The long nosed sniper inquired, obviously offended.

"Take your tongue war somewhere else before I vomit." Zoro told them crudely, looking quite aggravated at having been woken up.

Nami couldn't help the red tinge that came to her face, half from embarrassment, half from anger at these comments, Zoro's in particular. Before she could think about hitting him though, Sanji did it for her, kicking him through the material of his own hammock, managing to just not tear as he did. "Hey! Don't you talk to her like that!"

"Did you just kick me!?" Zoro asked dangerously.

"So what if I did? What are you going to do about it!?" Sanji questioned angrily.

"Why you-" Before a fight could break out between the two, Luffy burst into laughter, getting everyone's attention as he did. "Sorry guys, we didn't mean to wake you up." He stated sincerely, a mirthful smirk spread across his face despite that, obviously amused at their antics.

"Yeah, well just get out of here already so we can go back to sleep." The swordsman grumbled.

"Excuse me? No way, that rubber shit head is not leaving with Nami! I won't allow it!" The cook exclaimed, as he prepared to leap out of his hammock to keep said thing from happening.

But unfortunately for him, he was tripped up and fell out of his hammock and face first onto the floor, courtesy of Zoro. "Stupid love-cook." He murmered, as he began to drift off to sleep once more.

"Alright then, let's go Nami." Luffy told her as he chuckled, following after the orange haired cartographer up the mast after she did as he bid.

Before they got fully up though, Usopp had sprung from his own hammock, accidentally stepping on Sanji as he tried to get up, forcing him to the ground once more as the dark haired marksman made after the two lovers. "Get back here! We need to talk about that liar remark!"

He was ignored of course, as the hatch to the room was shut.

Sighing in defeat, the teen turned to go lie back down, to see, just barely with no light, Sanji standing before him. He did not look happy.

"Sorry about that, it was an accident." Usopp told the blonde sheepishly. Needless to say, he didn't seem to care.

* * *

The red had almost completely faded from Nami's face as she stepped out on deck, her tears having dried as well, Luffy closing the hatch to the boys room behind her. That is until she turned to face Luffy, who had the tiniest bit of red dusting his cheeks as well, the teen still chuckling regardless, as he spoke to her. "Hey Nami?"

"Yeah?"

"I could see your panties when we were climbing the mast." He said bluntly without a hint of hesitation, obviously finding it amusing.

With that the red returned with a vengeance, as a dark blush near consumed Nami's visage. "You idiot!" She shouted, as she bonked him over the head.

This just caused him to laugh a little more, rubbing his head through his hat as he did. "What's the big deal?" He inquired. "I've already seen what's under them, so it shouldn't matter." He stated matter-of-factly

She was quick to retort, her face growing a tad darker at his words. "That's not the point! You don't just go around telling girls you can see their underwear!"

"But I didn't!" He protested. "I just said it to you."

Nami rolled her eyes at that, as she fought back an exasperated sigh. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

Luffy chuckled at that. "Yeah, I know." He admitted with a grin.

Nami was unable to hold that sigh in any longer, as it came out. As it did, she couldn't help but think to herself, 'Guess it's gonna take a little while to get used to this.' She wasn't honestly angry, as Luffy catching a peek at her panties didn't truly bother her at all, and truth be told, if they hadn't made love back in her village, she'd probably be flashing him peaks like that on purpose every now and then to entice him. After all, how long had she fantasized about being intimate with Luffy? Since she was thirteen at least. Besides, they were pirates, that whole sex after so many dates things didn't apply to them, they broke the rules, that's what they did.

It was more an instinctual reaction than anything else. While she had no problem flaunting her body and using her looks to her advantage, she had been a virgin up until her night with Luffy. No one had even seen her completely nude before him, and many had tried, and while she had exposed herself on a few occasions, really desperate ones, those had been on her terms and she had been prepared for it. Hell Luffy was the first person to ever even kiss her, something she was very grateful for. So in short, she wasn't used to this kind of thing, at all. She was well versed in flirting, arousing and leading people on, men and women, but as for actually being intimate with them, physically or emotionally, well, she was well and truly out of her depth then.

'But back in Cocoyashi it just came so naturally with Luffy.' She reminded herself. 'So why am I reacting like this now?' She couldn't help but wonder.

Noticing his navigator had become lost in her thoughts, Luffy fixed her with a questioning gaze, wondering what she was thinking about.

Shaking her head to clear it of all her thoughts, Nami's attention refocused itself on Luffy, as she came to the decision to push past this silly incident, her blush just about gone at this point.

"Sorry about that Luffy, guess I overreacted a bit." She admitted with a sheepish smile.

Luffy's smile simply widened at that. "No problem."

"But in the future make sure not to say things like that, at least not while we're around other people. And certainly don't say things like that to other girls. Just politely avert your eyes and pretend it never happened." She told him.

"Got it." He said with a nod of his head.

"Good." She replied, her smile warping into a joyful one.

"So...will you tell me what's wrong now?" He inquired suddenly.

Nami rolled her eyes at that. "You're not gonna let that go are you? Fine. I had a nightmare and I wanted you to hold me so I could go back to sleep. There, happy?" She asked, annoyed with his persistence.

Luffy just stared at her for a moment, as if he hadn't heard her, before he broke into a fit of laughter.

Nami's blush returned and intensified, quite embarrassed for an entirely different reason now. And it only grew worse as Luffy fell to the deck and began to roll around, continuing to laugh as he held his sides. Apparently he found it down right hilarious.

"Yeah, go ahead, laugh it up rubberboy. But I told you it was stupid, you just wouldn't listen to me!" She near shouted at him, ever so embarrassed to be laughed at by Luffy of all people.

"No-no-it's not that!" He rasped out between his laughter. "It's-it's just so-so dumb!" He exclaimed, tears at the corners of his eyes as he continued with his laughing fit, quickly running out of breath as he did, as he just could not stop laughing.

"I know that dammit! I'm the one who told you it was!" She insisted, her anger growing.

The sound of banging could be heard below deck then, accompanied by a shout from one of the men below, "Keep it down up there, I'm tryin to sleep!" This was, of course, undoubtedly Zoro. This was mostly ignored by the two however.

"No-no, you really don't get it." The rubberman told her, as he forcibly reigned his laughter in and got it under control, the fit finally coming to a stop as he got to his feet. "It's dumb cause you could've just said that. We could have already gone back to sleep by now. But here we are waking everyone up because you didn't want to admit you had a bad dream. It's just so funny!" He exclaimed, before beginning another bout of laughter.

That took Nami back for a moment, but she was quick to recover. "Oh...so you...you really don't think I'm being silly?"

That got him to cut his laughter off prematurely once more, so he could answer. "Wha-? Of course not. Why would I? The dream scared you right? Everyone gets scared." He stated simply.

Nami wasn't sure how to respond to that simple logic, opening her mouth to say something and quickly closing it a moment after. And while she struggled to find words, Luffy did what he always did and simply took action. Grabbing her by the hand, he lead her into the storage room, opening the hatch down to her room with his free hand, he then began leading her down the stairs, the orange haired girl giving no resistance as she was lead about, still not knowing how to reply to what he had said. She did make sure to close the hatch to her room though, as her boyfriend had neglected to do so.

Once they had descended the steps, Luffy lifted Nami without warning and placed her in her hammock, the cartographer only giving slight protest as he did, before proceeding to climb into it himself. Then he got in position behind her, wrapping his arms around her stomach, without the use of his ability, and pulling her taut against his body, chuckling a little as he did. "See? Now wasn't that easy?" He asked her like one would a stubborn child, a cheeky gleam in his eyes as he did.

She suddenly found her voice at that. "Yeah well...you know...whatever." Her blush had returned after having almost completely faded once again, thought not quite as dark as before. As for why she was blushing again, well it wasn't everyday that someone as childish as Luffy treated you like you were the kid.

The raven haired teen couldn't help but chuckle even more at that. "Nami's embarrassed." He stated simply, his mirth clear in his tone.

"I am not." She contended.

"Yes you are." He insisted, that smile of his widening a little as he did.

"No I'm not." She argued.

"Are too." He persisted.

"Am not." She refuted.

"Are too." He repeated.

"Am not." She rebuffed.

"You totally are." He maintained.

"No I am not." She rebutted, beginning to pout as she did.

This just served to tickle the teenage pirate's funny bone further, laughing a little rather than chuckling. But it did get him to drop the subject at least, as he failed to come back with anything.

Since he didn't say anything, neither did she. And because of this, the room was left in silence for several long moments. That is until the straw hat wearing man spoke up once more, "You want to talk about it?" His smile had fallen away by now.

She understood immediately what he was asking about, her dream, or rather nightmare. Still, she neglected to reply for a bit, before coming to the decision that, yes she did want to talk about it. "We were in Cocoyashi and you were fighting Arlong. I begged you to run away because he was too strong for you, but of course you didn't listen. You then proceeded to prove me wrong of course, taking down Arlong and freeing my village." She began, resting her arms on his, that held her against him.

Luffy just smiled at that.

"But then the marines came. They were a hundred strong and wanted nothing more than to kill you. They even brought a battleship and started firing on the village, hoping to force you to choose between protecting yourself and protecting Cocoyashi, as if they somehow knew you would go for the latter. And you did of course, forgoing your own safety to protect the villagers for me. But they used that to their advantage and one of them snuck up on you. He stabbed you, ran you through and blood began to flow from your mouth as if he had pierced every vital organ you had." She continued, a frown marring her face.

Luffy couldn't help but frown at this as well.

"It only got worse from there. You threw him off and removed the sword, but then you were attacked by another dozen marines. You tried to protect yourself, but most of them still managed to get you with their swords, and while you knocked them out afterwards, you were still bleeding so badly because of the group attack. I began freaking out, but even as I did, you simply turned your attention to the rest of the marines and mowed them all down. After that you talked about going after the battleship, which just wouldn't stop firing. I protested of course, you were in no condition, you needed a doctor. You didn't pay my concern any attention, too busy struggling to go after the ship, but soon enough you collapsed, too weak from you wounds to do anything else other than that." She explained, before taking a brief pause, as to prepare herself for the last part.

Luffy's frown had evolved into a scowl at this point. Not only because of what the marines had done, but also because of what his dream self had done, or rather failed to do. 'How could he let himself go down before Nami was safe?' Needless to say, he was disappointed in his dream counterpart.

"That's when...that's when things got really bad." She started, her breathing hitching slightly because just remembering it upset her. "Everything around us faded into nothingness, before we were surrounded by nothing but pitch black darkness, just you and me, nobody else. Still, while it definitely shook me up, I was more focused on you bleeding in front of me. So I came to your side to try and help you up...but...the-then this thing appeared. I couldn't make out what it really looked like, as it was just as dark as the blackness that surrounded us. It was tall and had what looked like a sword for an arm, but that's all I could really discern." She was fighting back the tears that wanted to well up at this point. 'I went nearly eight years without shedding a single tear, but now, after I've reunited with Luffy, I just can't stop crying.' She thought to herself.

Luffy nuzzled the back of her neck with his nose then, silently telling her to go on. So she did. "I di-didn't even notice it at first. It wasn't until you were halfway to your feet that I caught sight of it. And as I did it came speeding at us, almost flying actually. I tried to warn you but...but I wasn't fast enough. It was upon us and wasted no time in impaling you on it's arm. You screamed in pain, so loudly it echoed throughout the darkness. It was like I was hearing it on repeat. And it sounded so much...so much like your screams when P-Porchemy...when h-he..." She had grabbed ahold of his hands halfway through, and was now squeezing them extremely hard. He was rubber, so it didn't hurt. Even if it had, he still wouldn't have minded.

"Not more than a handful of moments after, though it felt like an eternity, he tossed you off his arm and to the side like a ragdoll, and when you hit the ground, your neck made this sickening snapping noise. It made my heart stop. You had died Luffy." Tears were running down her face at this point, despite her best efforts, the teen choking back sobs at this point.

"But Nami, I'm rubber. I can't die like t-"

"I know Luffy, I know you can't die like that." Nami interrupted, having known he was going to say that. "It doesn't change the fact that in my dream you did. I don't know why I didn't question it, I just didn't. All I could focus on was the fact that you had just died before my eyes. I couldn't-I just couldn't deal with that." She told him between sobs.

He placed his chin on her shoulder, as he turned his head to kiss her cheek, unwittingly kissing a tear away as he did, so as to try and calm her down. And that seemed to be just what she needed, as she began to wipe her tears away shortly after, a small, grateful smile coming onto her face at his actions. "The nightmare ended shortly after that. It came after me next and swallowed me up in darkness and that's about it." She finished quickly, just wanting to be done with it at this point.

Silence gripped the room for the uncounted time, this bout lasting for almost an entire minute before it was broken. "Nami?"

"Yes Luffy?"

"You know you can always run to me, I'll scare all you fears away." He stated this softly, but with so much certainty it was as if he was speaking about a natural law, like gravity, as if it would always happen no matter what or who stood in it's way. And with Luffy the driving force behind it, well...she was inclined to agree.

As he said this though, flashes of when he said something very similar ran through Nami's mind. Back on Dawn Island, shortly after the Porchemy incident, she had awoken in tears. She ran out of her room and barged into Luffy's room, jumping into his bed, waking him up in the process, and hugging him tightly as she cried into him. He had been bewildered at first, but soon after he understood, as Nami explained to him through broken sobs about the nightmare she had about Porchemy getting Luffy and her. He had tried to comfort her, but it only did so good. So, after struggling to find the right words to say for a while, he finally out and came and said that if she was scared, that she just had to run to him and that he would scare anything that scared her away.

Being reminded of this caused her insides to flood with warmth, that combined with the warmth of Luffy's body pressing into her own, well...let's just say it was a very pleasant feeling. "Yeah, I know." She affirmed, showing her trust in him, a very bright smile taking the former grateful one's place as she did.

"Good." He replied simply, placing his hat on her head as he did, having pulled an arm back so he could perform this action. "Now let's get some sleep."

Nami turned her body over so she could face him then, to give him a kiss, only to see that he was out like a light, a little bit of drool leaking from the left corner of his mouth. "Dummy." She whispered affectionately, wiping the saliva away before pressing her lips to his and giving him a chaste kiss regardless of the fact that he had already zonked out.

After pulling back, having been thinking on her lover's words, Nami wrapped her arms around Luffy's neck and pulled herself as close to him as humanly possible, as she didn't want the warmth to fade, as she mumbled, "You're my very own hiding place."

Her eyes closed after that, which was why she missed the closed mouthed smile that crossed Luffy's face, having heard her words. And she would't find out either, as soon both of them slipped into a restful slumber.

* * *

The next morning...

Luffy yawned as he trudged up the steps to the storage room, opening the hatch out of Nami's room as he reached the top. "Sanji fo-" He was cut off as the foot, shoe included, of said chef he had been calling out for stuffed itself inside his mouth. "Don't even finish that sentence you shitty rubber bastard. You got to sleep in the same room as the beautiful Nami, there is no higher honor. And you have the gall to ask me to cook for you after having received such an honor?" He knew he would cook for him regardless, as he would never let anyone go hungry, especially not one of his friends, but he was angry dammit and he had to vent it somehow.

"Ves." He responded the best he could with a foot in his mouth, his answer easy to discern despite the foreign object.

Sanji was angered further by this of course, but before he could do anything about it, Luffy removed the foot from his mouth. "Gack! Your shoe tastes horrible!" He exclaimed, pushing it, and therefor Sanji, away as he did, causing the blonde to stumble backwards, trying to catch himself so he didn't fall as he did.

Luffy then proceeded to exit the storage room, going out on deck and greeting Zoro and Usopp, as Sanji managed to catch himself, having been too preoccupied with doing that to stop the rubber teen. Before he could go after his rubber friend though, Nami came up, stretching and yawning as she did. "Sanji could you make breakfast? I'm starving."

"Of course my dear, I'll get right to it!" He replied happily, his eyes having changed into hearts, before dancing his way out of the storage room and into the kitchen slash meeting room, where the rudder was also located to do just that.

* * *

"Where the hell are we?" One voice questioned.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Another voice responded.

"Where the hell are we supposed to go again?" A third voice inquired.

"Hell if I know." The second voice replied.

"Holy hell, I think this map might be a fake." The first voice said, obviously concerned,

"Oh hell, really?" The third voice asked.

"Hell, the captain will put us through hell if we return with a fake map." The second voice stated.

"Hell? But why? We tried so hard! I don't wanna go through hell!" The third voice whined.

"Calm the hell down! We'll figure this out!" The first voice insisted.

"Bu-but hell! Captain's gonna put us through hell! Don't you understand that!?" The third voice argued shakily.

"Yep, he's definitely gonna put us through hell. If he doesn't just outright kill us that is." The second voice informed.

"To hell with this!" The first voice exclaimed angrily.

"Hey guys, why do we keep saying hell so much?" The second voice questioned suddenly.

"I dunno." The other two voices answered in unison, it obvious from their tones that they had no idea why.

"Geez, you guys are so annoying." A new, fourth voice stated with annoyance.

"Shut up and keep paddling!" The three voices shouted at the fourth in unison.

Needless to say all this noise caught the Strawhats attention, as they all filed out of the kitchen/meeting room to see what all the noise was about. At first they didn't see anything, but as they looked over the railing, they caught sight of a small fishing boat with four individuals in it, three adult males and one child.

Just as they caught sight of them, the four caught sight of them, and the three who had been bickering shared nasty smirks, before they all proceeded to toss hooks tied to ropes up onto the railing, which the three then began to ascend, climbing as quickly as they could.

Anyone of the crew could have thrown the hooks off, seeing as they were barely hanging onto the railing, but none of them opted to do so, curious as to what these three were up to.

Once they reached the railing, they climbed over and onto the deck, allowing the Strawhat pirates to get a better look at them.

The first man had purple hair tied in a short ponytail on top of his head, tanned skin, a scrawny build and stood five foot six. His clothing consisted of a striped yellow shirt with a green vest over it, knee length blue jean shorts with light blue polka dots, simple black shoes and a pair of round black sunglasses resting on top of his head.

The second man had relatively short black fuzzy hair in a weird style, a chin patch, fair skin, a scrawny build and stood five foot five and half an inch. His apparel was made up of a pink disco themed jumpsuit with white flames extending from the bottom of his pant legs and his sleeves and a pair of white dress shoes.

The third man had short pink hair that was parted at the sides, light skin, a scrawny build and stood five foot seven. His attire was comprised of a fancy looking short sleeve white shirt with grey vest over it, black bow tie and a short sleeve black jacket over all of it. He also wore brown shin length pants and black shoes.

Not a moment after the five pirates had taken in the appearance of the trio, they spoke up. "Hello there. It's a pleasure to meet you. Now please, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Danny." The man with purple hair told them.

"I'm Denny." The black haired man stated.

"And I'm Donny." The pink haired man informed.

"And we are the Hyena Three!" They exclaimed in unison, obviously expecting some kind of recognition.

They received none however. "The who?" All five Strawhats questioned together.

The three face vaulted at that. Scrambling back up onto their feet, they tried to jog their memories, thinking they had to know of who they were. "You know, the Hyena Three, wanted for two million berris a piece, part of the El Drago pirates?"

"Again, who?" All five inquired, never even having heard a passing mention of them from anyone...ever.

All three proceeded to collapse to their knees, tears streaming down their faces, as they lamented the fact that these guys had never heard of them.

"What's a hyena?" Luffy suddenly asked, just thinking of it, turning to Nami so she could explain.

As she did, Danny, Denny and Donny found the strength to pull themselves together, dry their tears and stand once more.

Before they could do anymore than that however, Nami had finished explaining what a Hyena was to Luffy. And as she did, he turned to them and asked, "Oh, so are you three called hyenas cause you look so funny?"

The three proceeded to collapse into a sobbing mess on the deck at that, while Luffy and Usopp laughed. Luffy because he thought they were being funny, Usopp because of what Luffy had said to them. Nami was chuckling, and even Zoro and Sanji wore amused smirks.

The five teens then had there attention pulled to the hook-ropes, as the child who had been in that boat climbed aboard.

He was a small boy with dark spiky hair and tanned skin. He wore a yellow tinted tan shirt with brown waistcoat over it, slightly torn brown shorts, brown shoes and a black and red cape befitting his size.

Once on deck he seemed surprised to see them standing and the three that had been with him on the floor. "Serves them right."

"What's that now?" Nami questioned.

The kid, seeming to think the three had been knocked out rather than having collapsed in tears, proceeded to explain. "Those three jerks kidnapped me, had me rowing their boat for them while they tried to figure out the way to the island where Woonan keeps his treasure." He explained.

"Woonan?" The male strawhats repeated.

"Treasure?" Nami repeated, excitement filling her voice.

"Yeah, Woonan's treasure. They managed to find the map leading to it, see?" He said, showing the map the three had left in the boat as he did.

"That's right. And we'll be taking that map, and this boat to our captain." The three stated, as they rose to their feet behind the others, drawing swords as they did.

"Ahh!" The boy shouted, not having realized the three were still conscious.

The strawhats turned to them at that, quirked brows all around, as even Usopp could tell these guys were way out of their league. Nevertheless, they didn't seem to realize that, as they charged them.

They learned though, the hard way, as Luffy, Zoro and Sanji proceeded to slap them down to the deck with a single hit each, two punches and a kick, knocking them out cold.

"That was just pathetic." Usopp stated, shaking his head as he did. Even he was stronger than these guys, and he wasn't even a physical fighter.

Zoro took the three and tossed them off the ship, the trio landing in their fishing boat and causing it to shake violently from the impact of their landing, though it somehow managed not to turn over. The swordsman then removed their hook-ropes and tossed them back into their boat, before returning to the others.

They all turned to the boy then, "Now what was this about an island?" Usopp questioned.

"And you said something about gold?" Nami inquired, her anticipation all too visible.

"Yeah, the island Woonan The Great Gold Pirate buried his treasure." The boy confirmed almost nonchalantly.

"The great gold pirate?" Sanji repeated.

"Wonder why he was called that?" Usopp wondered aloud.

"Never heard of him." Both Luffy and Zoro said in unison.

"What? You guys have never heard of Woonan!? How is that possible!? I mean you guys are pirates right?" He questioned disbelievingly, gesturing to their jolly roger above as he did.

"Sure are." Luffy confirmed with a smile.

"Woonan..." Nami repeated, a flash of recognition in her eyes as she did. "Now I remember."

"Huh, you know him Nami?" Luffy inquired.

"I know of him at least." She replied. "Decades ago there lived a pirate who resided here in the East Blue, his name was Woonan, but the world knew him as The Great Gold Pirate. He was known as thus for all the treasure he looted from his enemies, of which he had many. Legend has it that the gold he plundered piled up to the size of an enormous mountain and lit up the ocean at night as though it was as bright as day. Because of this, people claim that he amassed nearly eighty percent of all the gold in the entire East Blue, an impressive feat that earned him a bounty of sixty million berris. However, his existence faded over the years, just as the existence of all the pirates that came before him did. In spite of the fact that no one ever saw him again once he disappeared, or the fact that most people couldn't recall just who he was or what he looked like, one thing always persisted about Woonan. And that was the rumor that, before he did vanish, he hid all the gold he had ever stolen on a small island in the middle of the East Blue. Even now, nearly half a century later, that rumor still persists. It's all that's truly left of Woonan, it's his legacy."

"His bounty was even bigger than Luffy's!" Usopp exclaimed in shock.

"Eighty percent of all the gold in the East Blue? That's a lot of gold." Sanji stated.

Nami let that sink in for a few moments, as she thought it over, before continuing, "I always thought it was just that, a rumor. But it's said that there exists a map, hand made by the first mate of Woonan's crew, that shows the location of this island. Supposedly if someone was to ever get their hands on it, Woonan's massive pile of gold would be theirs for the taking." She finished.

"Yeah and I have it right here! You guy can have it if you want!" The boy insisted.

"No way, really!?" Luffy and Usopp asked disbelievingly in unison.

"We're pirates, you know that, so why are you suddenly so eager to shove that map down our throats kid?" Zoro questioned then.

"Well, it's not like I want the treasure. So I figured if I gave you guys the map, then you wouldn't mind taking me along with you." He confessed.

"And why would you want to come along exactly?" Sanji probed.

"Oh, that's an easy one. I want to meet Woonan and convince him to let me join his crew." The kid replied with a bright smile.

"Huh?" Was the general response.

"Well..." The boy began. "...it's just that I...well...I don't wanna be alone anymore." His gaze fell from them, having been looking up at them, as he looked down at his feet, unwilling to meet their eyes, his smile falling away as well. "I'm an orphan...my parents died a year ago. My village is a small one, there isn't even an orphanage for me to go to and no one else can afford to keep me. I didn't know where to turn, but then I remembered a story my mother used to tell me. It was about my grandfather, Ganzo, and his adventures with Woonan. You see, he was his first mate...and I figured if I could find Woonan, I could find Ganzo...my grandpa. So I set out to find him. When I tell him who I am, I'm sure they won't turn me away. They'll let me join their crew, and then...well, then I won't be alone anymore." By the time he finished, he was on the verge of tears.

"But kid it's been fifty years, how do you even know if they're still...alive?" Usopp asked, hesitating only for a moment.

"They're alive! I know they are!" He cried, as his head shot up and his eyes fixed Usopp with a glare. "They...they've just gotta be!" He was fighting back sobs as he made this exclamation, though not very well, the thought of them being dead clearly quite upsetting to him.

The crew was silent at that, said silence lasting for several long moments, before one of them finally broke it. "What's your name kid?"

Said kid looked to the straw hat wearing teen then, who had his head down, causing his hat to shadow his eyes, the one who had spoken to him, as he gave his name. "Tob-Tobio, my name is Tobio."

Luffy raised his head, therefor raising his hat, allowing his eyes to be seen, as a wide smile plastered itself onto his face. "Well then Tobio, how would you like to come with us on a little adventure?"

"R-Rea-Really?" Tobio questioned disbelievingly.

Luffy's answer was to just smile wider. Nevertheless, it got the message across. "Th-thank you so much!" He exclaimed happily, as he began trying to wipe away his tears.

"Alright, then it's settled. Onward to claim that treasure!" Nami proclaimed joyfully.

"AH! She has berri signs for eyes!" Usopp cried in shock and distress, pointing a shaking finger at the freaky sight. And he was right, she did indeed have berri signs for eyes.

"Oh and to help Tobio find his grandfather." She added.

"That's a side note!?" Both Usopp and Zoro asked incredulously in unison.

"Tch, I should've guessed. Damn greedy witch." Zoro remarked further.

Sanji would have been angry at the swordsman for saying such a thing, but he hadn't heard him over his own words. "Ah, Nami's beautiful even when she's ignoring other people's plights!"

"Ah! He has heart eyes again!" Usopp exclaimed in surprise.

Quickly turning away, as the sight still perturbed him, he unfortunately found himself faced with Nami's berri sign eyes. "Ah! Berri signs!" Spinning around he was caught by Sanji's heart eyes again. "Ah! Hearts!" He tried to turn again, only to see Nami's unnatural changed eyes once again, Sanji's own waiting behind him. And seeing as he was caught between both, he had no choice but to cover his eyes to prevent himself from seeing either.

He then began walking backwards, so he could get to a safe place where he would see neither, only to trip over one of Zoro's feet. "Ack!" He grunted as he fell over onto his back.

"You should watch where you're going Usopp." The green haired teen warned him.

"Now you tell me!?" He shouted at the swordsman, clearly annoyed. "Why were you even behind me anyway!? You were on the other side of Luffy, you know, two people away from me!"

Zoro just looked at him like he didn't know what he was talking about, which elicited a frustrated yell from long nosed sniper.

Tobio could only sweatdrop as he watched all of this occur. "Uh...you guys...sure are weird."

"Yeah I guess we are, huh?" Luffy responded, clearly not bothered by the boy's words at all, before proceeding to peel out into a fit of laughter.

Tobio simply had no words at this point.

* * *

An hour and a half later...

They had changed their course and were now well on their way to the island of Aurum, which was the name of the island given by the map they had in possession. As it turned out, they weren't all that far from it and would reach their destination, at least according to Nami, within another hour or two from now. And with that having been said, the crew went and did their own things.

Nami continued to analyze the map near the bow, making absolutely sure they were heading in the right direction, using her knowledge of the East Blue to recognize the surrounding area depicted in said map, so she would know exactly where it was. She was even cross checking another map, one of the whole East Blue, so as to make one hundred percent sure they would get to the island no problem.

Luffy was sitting on the Merry's head, her figurehead more specifically, his legs crossed as he stared out at the open ocean. He had taken to sitting here when he wasn't doing anything else and over the past week had grown very fond of the spot. Without a word even being spoken, it was dictated by the entire crew as the captain's seat.

Zoro was sitting up in the crow's nest, keeping an eye out for land, and also catching a little extra shut-eye when no one was looking.

Sanji stood guard over Nami's tangerine trees, as he had caught Luffy trying to sneak one. Neither had said anything and they went their separate ways, but the blonde still stayed in case the rubberman tried to come back.

Usopp sat against the mast with Tobio, the two having become well acquainted since the boy had come aboard, and was talking to the kid. Considering how animated he was being at the moment, it was rather safe to assume he was telling the boy one of his stories.

Not long after Usopp finished one of his tales, Tobio brandished a piece of paper, saying as he did so, "I'm not sure if he still looks like this, but I have an old bounty poster my parents had kept hidden away of Woonan. I figured it would help me recognize him, at least a little." He opened the rolled up piece of paper and showed the marksman the bounty then, the picture old and faded, but still clear enough to discern the appearance of the individual it had been taken of.

Usopp took it from Tobio and examined the man in the picture.

He appeared to be in his fourties, had fair skin with a deep tan, shoulder length scraggly brown hair, and a white tattoo on his face of crossbones, starting just above each eyebrow coming down his cheeks and ending an inch or so below his eyes. He also wore a pirate's captain hat, red and black in color with his jolly roger on it, said jolly roger the standard skull and crossbones with a light red outline in an almost flame like pattern. Anything else was below the neck and wasn't able to be made out, since it was just a picture from the neck up.

"Huh, so this is what someone with a sixty million beri bounty looks like." Usopp remarked to himself. He couldn't lie, he did find the man intimidating, but those fishmen had been scarier, Arlong especially.

"Looks like one tough old bastard. And trust me, I would know." Sanji remarked, thinking of Zeff as he did.

"He looks pretty cool." Luffy stated.

"And dangerous." Zoro added.

"Looks like your typical pirate to me, albeit more along the more extreme end of the spectrum, but a typical pirate nevertheless." Nami commented.

Usopp and Tobio looked behind them then, to see the others all looking over the long nosed teen's shoulder to see the bounty. As they did, the young boy beside the curly haired pirate nearly threw himself back in shock and surprise, "Wh-when did you guys get behind us!?" He questioned incredulously. "You were all over the ship just a minute ago!" He added in disbelief.

The four just shrugged at that, as if they didn't actually know how they did it, which of course they did.

Usopp, who had been a little startled to find them there as well, just sighed at their actions. "I should've seen that coming. Luffy can be quiet when he wants to be, Sanji wasn't far from us, neither was Nami and she used to be a thief so...yeah." He said to himself, but was still heard by the others. "But how the heck did you get behind us Zoro?" He questioned then, looking toward the green haired swordsman as he did. And it was a valid question, as he had been in the crow's nest just moments before.

Zoro quirked a brow at his crewmate's question. "Are you insinuating that I can't be quiet?"

The moment he finished his sentence, Nami gave a rather dramatic gasp, getting everyone's attention on her. "You actually know what the word insinuate means? I'm shocked." She stated, a false look of shock plastered on her face.

It was an all too clear jab at his intelligence, and the swordsman didn't take kindly to it. "Are you calling me stupid?" He inquired, a tick mark present across his forehead as he kept himself from reaching out and strangling the cartographer, as Sanji laughed at the somewhat older man.

"What gave it away?" Nami asked, a rather mischievous smirk crossing her face as she did.

Before Zoro really could strangle the orange haired navigator, Luffy cut in. "What does ins-inseminate-I mean insinuate mean?"

This was echoed by Tobio, "Yeah, what does insinuate mean?"

"Luffy, you have the same intelligence as this eight year old." Sanji remarked with a sigh, while Nami tried to hide her blush at Luffy using the word inseminate.

"Hey, I'm nine!" Tobio yelled, apparently offended at being called an eight year old.

"Jerk!" Luffy shouted at the blonde, just offended in general.

Silence overcame the group for a few moments then, before they all proceeded to burst out laughing.

* * *

Two hours later...

"Sanji, I'm hungry. Make me something to eat." Luffy whined for the umpteenth time.

"We just had breakfast a few hours ago!" Sanji protested with a yell. "Wait until lunch like everyone else you rubber pinhead." He told him more calmly this time.

"But I'm hungry now." He continued to whine.

The blonde simply sighed, as he did his best to ignore his captain.

Luffy opened his mouth to whine further, but was cut off as Usopp called out, "I see it! I see the island! I see Aurum!"

All attention went to Usopp who was up in the crow's nest, before going out toward the front of the ship, where they too saw the island, coming up on it fast.

Aurum had lush greenery, more than half the island seemingly covered in a beautiful forest, a small beach front at the side they were approaching with almost white colored sand and rocks littered about, probably washed in by the tide every now and then. A large mountain of roughly a hundred feet, maybe more, stood in the distance at the back of the island, at least the back of the island from where they were approaching. Said mountain was surrounded by bare, rocky land that eventually met with the forest. The top of a small castle could also be seen in the distance, away from the mountain but outside the forest. All of this was noted by Usopp with the spyglass he held, using it from the crow's nest to get the very best look at the island he could.

The ship was a whir of excitement as they settled next to the beach, Zoro dropping anchor as Usopp climbed down and told them all that he had seen, while Sanji furled the sails, Luffy and Tobio jumped about anxiously and Nami confirmed that this was indeed Aurum, taking a short look at the map as she did to double check.

"We're here, time to find Woonan and his gol-" Luffy had started to exclaim, only to suddenly stop, which got everyone casting worried glances at him.

"Luffy, what's wrong?" Was the general response at the rubberman's sudden stop.

The straw hat wearing teen was sniffing the air, each intake of air through his nostrils becoming longer and longer until..."I smell Oden!" He proclaimed delightedly. "FOOD!" He exclaimed with a shout, before leaping off the ship and taking off at high speed, following his nose toward the food.

The rest of the crew, Tobio as well, face vaulted at this. "You've gotta be kidding me!" They near screamed in unison.

Quick to get back up, most of them just sighed. "Luffy and his stomach." Nami remarked with a second sigh, this one of annoyance.

That seemed to be all that needed to be said, as the other three crewmembers nodded their heads in agreement, clearly annoyed as well.

Sighing for a third time, Nami shook her head as she turned away, a smile coming back to her face as she did. "Whatever. Sanji go after him, someone needs to make sure he doesn't get lost."

"Your wish is my command dear!" Sanji replied with a sickly sweet voice, before jumping down to the beach and dashing off in the same direction Luffy had went in, his eyes replaced by hearts the entire time.

Turning around, she spoke once more, "Now, let's start looking for that gold!" Tobio and Usopp cried out their agreement, before they all deboarded the Merry.

The orange haired navigator turned to Zoro then, "Alright Zoro, it'll be your job to keep us safe whi-" Or at least she had turned to where Zoro had been.

Usopp and Tobio looked to Nami then, seeing as she stopped speaking mid-sentence, to see her staring at where Zoro had been just a moment ago. "Wh-where's Zoro?" She finally asked, Usopp echoing her question with a squeak.

"That green haired guy right? He went off that way as soon as we got off the boat." Tobio explained, pointing straight ahead as he did.

The two strawhats looked to where he was pointing, but saw Zoro was already gone, probably in the thick of the greenery already. "That idiot!" They exclaimed together, their voices cracking slightly. Both were thinking along the same lines, "He left us all alone, with no one to protect us!"

* * *

Luffy ran through that forest near top speed, leaving a very visible trail of dust behind him as he did. He was quite intent on getting that food he had caught a whiff of. He hadn't had Oden in a while either, so it was nice it would work out this way. Speaking of Oden, Luffy took a sharp right as he closed in on the scent. "Food, food, food, food!"

Another minute of this and Luffy was bursting out of the foliage, as he came out to another small beach side, where what appeared to be a small floating food stall sat, or rather floated, in the water. Said food stall had a sign at the top that read in big bold letters, MAXI'S PLACE.

The man who manned the stall appearedto be in his late thirties, stood five nine, had fair skin, an average build, a small brown goatee with an elongated mustache making it stick out and short scruffy brown hair. He wore tan pants, a brown shirt, plain black shoes and a white apron over it all. And needless to say, when he saw the teen come rushing out of the forest, his nostrils flaring and a hungry look in his eyes...well, he blinked several times in surprise, too shocked to really say anything.

The silence between the two lasted for several long moments, before the brown haired man broke it, "Can I help you?" He questioned a little nervously.

"You have food?" Luffy inquired.

"Food?" The man repeated. "Well yeah actually, I do. This is a food stall after all, and I am Maxi, the owner of Maxi's Place so...yeah, I have food." He answered, the nervousness slowly fading as he spoke. "I'm guessing you must be starving, what with the look in your eyes."

Luffy simply nodded at that.

A small smirk crossed Maxi's face at that, no longer nervous at all. "Well then, take a seat and I'll whip something up for you."

Luffy did so happily, coming aboard the floating stall in a flash, drooling as he did.

"Here, have this oden I prepared. It should hold you over until I've got something else ready." He said, as he handed the pirate a bowl of oden.

Luffy took it and began to dig in with zeal.

* * *

"Where the heck am I?" Zoro inquired to no no one in particular, as he looked about.

He was smack dab in the middle of the forest at this point, having been walking nonstop until now.

"And where are the others?" He inquired further, turning to look back to see that no one was behind him, for some reason having thought they would follow him.

After a few moments of thinking it over, he shrugged. "Guess I'll just have to find them." He sighed then. "Why are they always getting lost?" He wondered to himself.

* * *

Sanji was walking now, having slowed from his dash when it became less obvious where Luffy had gone. "Where did that idiot go?" He wondered aloud, as he came to a stop, suddenly unsure of where to go from here, as the signs of disturbance in the forest from Luffy running through it had ended here where he stood.

He looked about, hoping to catch a glimpse of Luffy's red vest or his straw hat, or any sign of him really, so he could continue to follow him, even the rustling of some trees would help. Unfortunately nothing close to that happened. So with a sigh, he took the cigarette from his mouth and put it out against a tree. Then he took a moment to breath through his nose, slowly and carefully smelling the scents that surrounded him.

While he couldn't tell you what most of them were, as he hadn't the faintest idea, there was one in particular that caught his attention and that he could most certainly put a name to. "Oden. Huh, looks like Luffy's nose is as accurate as always." The blonde remarked, before following in the direction the scent was coming from.

* * *

Nami, Usopp and Tobio walked through the forest, having gone left like the map said to rather than straight through like Zoro, or to the right like Luffy did and Sanji followed.

Nami stood at the front, using the map as a guide as she led the other two, while Usopp stood to her right just a pace or so behind her, looking about as he followed, and Tobio was a little to the left, coming in two or three paces behind the money hungry teen. And while none of them said it, their hearts were beating rapidly.

Tobio because he was so close to finding his grandfather and Woonan, who would keep the loneliness he had been forced to feel for so long away for good.

Usopp because he was very anxious over what might be on this island, as there had to be something here to keep the gold out of the hands of any random passerby, otherwise someone would surely have found the stash of wealth by now, simply by luck and or chance. 'I'm not scared though. Anxious yeah, but definitely not scared.' He thought to himself.

Nami because she was close to having her hands on eighty percent of all the gold in the entire East Blue. That thought was absolutely exhilarating to the orange haired girl. And...also because she was a little scared of what might be guarding the gold. 'I'm scared, I can admit it.' She thought to herself.

The three followed the map religiously, until they bumped into something, Nami hitting it first and Usopp and Tobio a moment later, all crashing into each other before falling back onto their asses.

"Ow." They all exclaimed in unison.

"Why'd you stop Nami?" Usopp questioned, rubbing his behind as he got to his feet.

"Yeah, why'd you stop?" Tobio echoed as he stood up.

"That would be because of me." A voice that was distinctly different from any of their's said then.

Nami, who was already staring up at the man, took in his appearance as she got to her feet, just as Usopp and Tobio did when they looked up at him.

He appeared to be in his thirties, stood six foot six inches, had a mildly muscular build, dark skin, long red hair that reached down to the backs of his knees worn a little strangely, it being loose down to his mid back then below that was all braided in a monk-like ponytail, thick black eyebrows, and a bush like patch of black hair on his chin. He also had two bottom teeth nearly three times the size of his other teeth, which were sharp like canine teeth, then he also had sharp golden fingernails, which looked more akin to claws than anything.

As for his clothing, a white swashbuckler shirt worn open, calf length grey pants with black stripes, black slipper-like walking shoes and golden socks. Over that he wears big golden shoulder pads, a gold waistplate with two pads that extended down his legs to his knees, a light green sash tied around that, and finally, a black cape tucked under his shoulder pads but worn over his shirt.

"A-and wh-who are yo-you?" Usopp and Nami queried.

A toothy smile spread across the man's face at that. "El Drago, captain of the El Drago Pirates."

"Oh." Was the two's only response, as they realized how bad their situation was.

"RUN!" Tobio cried, as he and the two pirates turned to do just that, only to be cut off by two other men.

"You three aren't going anywhere, especially not with that map." One of them said.

"Our captain would like to have a few words with you, so don't try to run off again, or else." The other warned.

The man who had spoken first stood five eleven, had an average build, fair skin and short, somewhat well combed brunette hair. As for his clothing, he wore beige slacks, black shoes, a short sleeve white shirt with a beige vest over it and black fingerless gloves. He also had a bo staff in hand, which he rested against his shoulders, said staff seeming to be as long as he was tall.

The man who had spoken second stood six five, had a husky build, dark skin and shoulder length black hair. He wore a white poncho-like shirt with green embellishments and yellow trimming, loose brown pants and black slipper-like sandals. As well as a white headress made up of feathers with red tips. Weapon wise, he carried a very large, rather wide sword that was a little bigger than he was.

"Samson, Golass, escort these three to the ship." El Drago ordered with a dark smile.

* * *

As Sanji finally exited the forest, he came upon another small beach front, where he saw just who he was looking for, sitting in what appeared to be a floating food stall. "There you are Luffy." He spoke, getting the rubberman's attention as he did.

"Hrm? Swaji?" He questioned with his mouthful, turning to look behind him as he did.

"Sorry about my friend, he's a bit of a glutton." Sanji said, looking toward Maxi as he did.

"Oh don't worry about it, those are my kind of people." He replied with a smile.

Sanji smirked at that. "A cook who likes a challenge huh? I can relate. But this guy takes it too far sometimes, he really does." The blonde told the man, as he stepped foot on the stall, before proceeding to take a seat next to Luffy. "Name's Sanji by the way."

"Nice to meet you, name's Maxi, as I'm sure you could guess." The man started. "So then, does that mean you're the one who usually cooks for this young man?" He inquired.

Sanji eyed the dishes Maxi had put out for Luffy for a few moments, who had gone back to eating, the owner of the stall still cooking more even as they spoke, before his eyes returned to the brown haired man as he responded. "Yeah, that's me. I'm his cook."

Maxi quirked a brow at that. "His cook? Like a personal chef?" He asked.

"No, he's the cook on my ship." Luffy explained. "We're pirates." He proceeded to clarify, before diving back into the food that was set out.

"Pirates?" Maxi repeated.

"Don't worry, we're not your typical pirates." Sanji said, trying to ease any tension that might have just been created.

Maxi chuckled at that. "I can see that. Besides, pirates don't bother me, my father was one."

Sanji quirked a brow at that, obviously curious, Luffy the same as he stopped eating for a moment, but neither said anything. Luffy went back to eating and Sanji simply pulled out an open pack of cigarettes and his lighter, before lighting up.

"Not gonna ask me who my father was? Most people are curious when I tell them I'm the son of a pirate." He chuckled some more then. "My guess is they're always eager to know if he was someone famous."

"Curious? Sure. But why bother pressing for it? People's pasts are their own business. Right Captain?" Sanji looked to Luffy as he said this.

"Mhmhhmm." He hummed in agreement, his mouth stuffed full of food as he did.

"Maybe if you were a part of our crew it'd be different. Unless you really didn't want us to know, then we'd leave it at that. Regardless, if you want to tell us, that's your choice. We're certainly not gonna be bugging you to find out." Sanji informed him. "I'm honestly surprised he's even been listening, considering he's got something to stuff his face with." The blonde added, gesturing to Luffy as he did.

If Sanji's words offended the rubber teen, he certainly didn't show it, as he just continued to eat.

Maxi chuckled just a little more at that. "I see." A mirthful smirk was spread across his face at this point.

* * *

El Drago and his two cronies had just stopped, Nami, Usopp and Tobio doing the same, as they had come upon another shore, where a large boat with a golden dragon figurehead sat. They, Drago, Nami, Usopp and Tobio, made no move to board the ship, as Golass and Samson moved toward it and started shouting for the rest of their crew to get out here.

As they did that, El Drago turned to the three captives. "Now then, give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you for taking what's mine."

"Y-Yours?" They repeated.

"That map." He gestured to the map Nami held in her hands as he said this. "Is mine. I've been hunting it for nearly a year now, and just when I get word some of my men have found it, some no name pirates come and steal it. That makes me angry."

"Us st-steal your ma-map? No, of course n-not! We would never dare to steal from the great El Drago!" Nami said, trying to appease him.

"Ye-yeah, we found it is all. Yeah, that's it, we found it! It was just lying around near an abandoned pirate ship. I bet the pirates realized who they had stolen it from and fled for their lives, leaving the map and their ship behind, as what are those compared to their lives?" Usopp lied through his teeth. "We're just a couple of small-time treasure hunters, nothing more." He continued. "We didn't realize we were stepping on the toes of someone so great. Please, accept our apologies. And here, have the map back." Usopp finished, taking the map and handing it to El Drago as he did.

Nami opened her mouth to protest of course, but the long nosed teen slapped his hand over it, causing her words to come out mumbled and unintelligible.

El Drago looked quite confused at all this at first, before, after several moments of thinking it over, he realized that made sense. "Is that so? Huh, I see. Alright then, you can be on your way then. Sorry for the misunderstanding."

Usopp stopped fighting with Nami, who was still trying to say something about giving the map to the guy, the orange haired teen stopping as well, both of them looking at El Drago in disbelief. 'He bought that?' They wondered.

"So...so we can just leave?" Usopp questioned.

"Yep." He answered simply.

"J-Just like that?" Nami questioned further.

"You guys said it yourselves, you didn't steal the map. Now get out of here, before I change my mind." He warned them.

Tobio, who had been silent up til this point, debated whether to speak up. 'Do we really need the map to find Woonan?' He wondered.

Before the three could decide to run, Golass and Samson were coming back, the entirety of the El Drago pirates following behind them, there being a hundred of them. Among them were the Hyena Three, Danny, Denny and Donny, who had the back of their heads bandaged up, the light attacks they received from the other three members of the strawhats having caused semi-permanent damage apparently.

"It's you guys!" All three cried. As they did, the three knew they were screwed.

Danny, Denny and Donny rushed over to El Drago, stopping beside him, as they all pointed at Nami, Usopp and Tobio accusingly. "That's them Captain! They're the ones who stole your map!" The trio shouted in unison.

El Drago quickly spun to face them then, having turned away after getting the map back, growling as he did. "What!? So you really were the ones to steal my map!?" The three gulped in fear at that. "And you tricked me on top of that!? Oh I'm going to kill you!" He informed them angrily.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Usopp shouted repeatedly, shaking his hands about in a negatory fashion as he did, obviously not wanting to be killed. "What if we could make up for it?" He asked hopefully.

El Drago paused at that. "Make up for it? How?" He queried.

"What if I told you that I know the location of a treasure even greater than Woonan's? A treasure consisting of mountains and mountains of rubies, diamonds, sapphires and other precious gems that total value exceed even Woonan's stash of gold? How does that sound?" Usopp asked, ignoring the incredulous look he received from both Nami and Tobio as he did.

At these words, El Drago lowered his head, hiding his eyes from view, beginning to tremble as he did.

"Ah, trembling with excitement are we? I can't blame you." Usopp continued, planning to lay it on as thick as he needed to. "No man could resist the allure of such riches. And if you let us go, it's all yours!"

"Excitement? No. I'm trembling with rage!" El Drago cried, his head shooting up to show nearly bloodshot eyes, his abundance of anger all too clear.

Nami, Usopp and Tobio all jumped at that, frightened by the sudden cry and the anger. "B-But why? Is it that you don't believe me? I sw-swear I'm telling the truth! I really know the location of such a treasure! And I'll tell you, I'll even draw you a map!" Usopp insisted, clinging to his lie so that he, Nami and Tobio could keep their lives.

"I don't care! I'm here for gold! Not stupid gems! Why does everyone always say crap like that? I don't care about any of it! I JUST WANT MY GOLD!" He screamed in rage.

The trio of Nami, Usopp and Tobio were blasted to the ground by this, the trees behind them shaking in duress, the bark of said trees continuously cracking under the extent of this scream. And it would have surely continued, if Golass and Samson didn't restrain their captain and get him under control.

"Stop it Captain, you're using your devil fruit powers unconsciously again!" Samson shouted.

"If you don't stop you'll destroy the map along with this forest!" Golass yelled.

That seemed to do it, as he stopped and began to calm down, though his anger was still clear. "Kill them! Kill them and throw their bodies into the ocean! Then we begin our search for the gold!" He ordered.

"YES CAPTAIN!" All one hundred and two, counting Golass and Samson, of his crew replied in unison.

"WAIT! Just wait!" Nami cried, as she pulled herself to her feet, Usopp struggling to get to his own while helping Tobio as well. Though he struggled out of fear rather than pain. "We know where the gold is! We can show you to it!" She proclaimed.

That caused the El Drago Pirates to pause, the captain included. "If you try to do it yourselves, it could take you days, maybe even weeks! But if you let us show you the way, then you could have it in just hours!" She insisted.

Silence reigned for several long moments then...

"Fine. Show us the way. But if I don't like what we find, or I find out your lying to me, I will kill you." El Drago told them, slowly and decisively in a dangerous tone.

"You got it, whatever you say." Nami assured him, looking back at her two companions as she did, her anxiety clear in her eyes. It was reflected it Usopp's and Tobio's eyes as well.

If they weren't scared before, they certainly were now.

As Nami was handed the map, and she, Usopp and Tobio began to lead the way, all three thought to themselves, 'Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, help us.'

* * *

"Huh? Wha-what the hell? How did I end up back here!?" Zoro questioned incredulously, having just come back onto the small beach front that the Merry was anchored at.

"I was walking in a completely straight line, so how...just how am I here again!?" The swordsman wondered aloud disbelievingly.

He struggled to find an answer to this question for several long moments, before sighing exasperatedly, remarking to himself afterwards, "Guess Nami's lack of direction is starting to rub off on me. I swear, that girl could get lost anywhere." All the times the cartographer had gotten lost as a child came to the green haired teen's mind as he said this, not realizing in the slightest that he had been the one always getting lost.

Turning back around, he entered the forest once more, intent on not getting lost this time.

* * *

Nami, in spite of the situation she was in, leading a dangerous crew of pirates numbering over a hundred, all of whom hadn't a single problem with slitting her throat, through a forest toward treasure, felt her fear fade, as a sense of anger and annoyance suddenly came over her. And oddly enough, it was directed at a certain swordsman. 'I suddenly have this overwhelming urge to kick the crap out of Zoro.' She thought to herself.

She mulled over this for a few moments, before shrugging, the feelings fading. 'Eh, it's nothing new.'

That faded fear slowly began to return, as she, Usopp, Tobio and the El Drago Pirates entered a decent sized clearing that was covered in soft grass and surrounded on all sides by trees, said clearing void of anything but the grass and a large stone whale, which was located dead center of the area. The reason the fear was returning? The map didn't show where one was supposed to go after they got here, and even the grunts of the El Drago Pirates could see that this wasn't where the gold was, as you couldn't bury that much gold in the ground, not on most level ground anyway.

Which meant that, if El Drago's scowling face was anything to go by, they had only a few moments before he exploded in anger. This was all too clear to Nami, and it was just as clear to Usopp as well. That's why the long nosed sniper came to the orange haired teen's side and began to speak with her, doing so in hushed whispers, as her eyes continuously drifted over the parchment the map was drawn on. "Nami, why'd we stop?"

"Because this stupid map doesn't show where to go next!"

"But if we don't start moving soon, that guy will kill us!"

"You think I don't know that!? I'm trying here! I can read the map just fine, the problem is that the treasure's location isn't marked! Meaning all I can do is lead them around! I have no more of a clue to where the treasure is than they do at this point!"

"Well we've got to do something!"

"I know okay!? Just give me a minute here!"

"We may not have a minute! That guy looks ready to kill!"

"Then make yourself useful and stall him!"

"Stall him!? How am I supposed to do that!?"

"Just what are you two whispering about?" Golass asked them in a dangerous tone.

Usopp squeaked in fear, taking a large step away from his crewmate and toward the pirates as he did, putting Tobio behind him as he did, the boy having looked frightened as their anger clearly grew. Even still, he was quite able to speak up, as he did his best to try and distract them from the fact that they weren't going anywhere. "W-we were just discussing you guys is all! You know, the usual, how tough you all are and just how fearsome you can be. No one can stand up to you guys, cause you're just so strong! You in particular El Drago! An-and we were wondering, just why, since you're so strong and all, you would waste time looking for gold, when you could sail for the Grand Line and show the world just how great you are!"

All that sucking up seemed to put El Drago in a good mood, as he was sporting a large, cocky and toothy grin at this point. "Well, since you wanna know so bad, I guess I could tell you."

"Please do!" Usopp said with faux excitement, nodding his head as he did, just hoping against hope he could keep him busy long enough.

"You see, the truth is..." The red haired man paused then, perhaps for dramatic effect, before his eyes lit up and his grin widened to an almost delirious looking smile. "I love gooooooold!" He exclaimed with joy, now positively beaming. "The look of it, the taste of it, the smell of it, the texture! I love it all!" He began rubbing his face against his right hand then, his golden claws gently sliding across his skin with every stroke, somehow failing to nick his skin as they did. "Oh gold, I love you. Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold. Oh how I love gold."

'The taste of it? You mean he's actually put gold in his mouth before, and actually enjoyed it? Man this guy is creepy.' Usopp thought to himself, as he forced himself to smile and nod along, feeling rather uncomfortable as the man began to rub against his own golden nails.

Tobio looked fairly disgusted, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Not that he understood the underlying tones of what the pirate captain was saying.

'What a weirdo.' Nami remarked in her head. She loved gold as much as the next girl, hell a lot more actually, but well, she certainly wasn't going to cream herself over it. Her love of gold, or more accurately money, did not translate to having sexual desire toward it. However, judging by the small bulge forming in El Drago's trousers, it certainly did for him.

She had to stifle her body's urge to shudder, as this man was grossing her out to the extreme. He was revolting in almost every single sense of the word. 'The sooner we can ditch him and his cronies, the better.'

No sooner did this thought pass through her mind, than did she notice that the bottom right corner of the map seemed to be splitting in two, as if two pieces of parchment had been glued together and were slowly coming apart. This of course caught her interest, so she slowly and carefully peeled it apart, making sure not to tear it even in the slightest. As she did, words written in black ink revealed themselves.

Once she was sure the entire passage was present, she stopped pulling at the parchment and began to read. "If the whale faces west, then the tail faces..." She read quietly to herself. 'The rest is smudged, nothing more than a big blot of black ink. Even still, this is the hint I needed.'

The navigator then looked toward the stone whale, running her eyes over it as her mind absorbed every detail. 'The head does face west, so the tail would face east, or so logic dictates.' Her eyes focused in on the end of the whale's tail then, noting that instead of it facing directly opposite to it's face, it was curled to the right a bit, positioned toward the north. 'Logic isn't always right. After all, there are people who defy it all the time, like Luffy.' Her lips curved ever so slightly upward, forming a tiny smile on her face as she thought of him. And suddenly, she wasn't so worried anymore, as an idea came to her. The reason? Luffy was to the east, having run off to the right when they dropped anchor.

El Drago finally seemed to snap out of the gold induced trance he was in then. "Anyway, to answer your question, I first want to acquire all the gold in the East Blue before moving on. Then I will gather all of the gold in the South Blue, then the West Blue, then the North Blue, and then finally the Grand Line. It is my greatest ambition, my dream to possess all of the gold in the entire world! And I won't stop until I achieve this ambition, this life dream!" He proclaimed with passion.

Usopp opened his mouth to comment, planning to stroke the man's ego some more in spite of really not wanting to, but before he could, Nami spoke up, "Alright guys, let's keep moving. We're almost there. The treasure is directly east of here."

Everything went back to the business at hand at that, as El Drago's toothy grin returned. "Right. Lead the way then."

And so she did, Usopp and Tobio quickly catching up with her as she began moving, not wanting to be any closer to all the pirates than they had to. Up at the front of the crowd with her, the marksman immediately noticed her smile. "Why are you smiling?" He asked bluntly, his confusion clear.

"We're heading east. Luffy is somewhere east of here. So is Sanji. Zoro could be as well, but let's be honest here, with his sense of direction he's probably wandered off into the ocean. Anyway, the farther east we go, the greater our chances are of running into them." She explained.

Usopp couldn't fight the chuckle that surfaced, his lips quirking upward in a grin, as the majority of his fear began to fade. If they ran into Luffy, Zoro or Sanji, these guys were history. There was no question about that.

Tobio, having been a few paces to the right of them, was unable to hear them whispering to one and other. But, worried and fearful, he refused to stay out of the loop any more. Closing the distance between him and them, he entered into their hushed conversation, "Hey guys, what's going on? What is all the whispering about? Have you got a plan?"

"Do we ever." They both responded in unison, turning towards the boy as they did, both giving him the thumbs up with mischief gleaming in their eyes as they grinned like mad.

* * *

"So this nephew of yours, what's he like?" Sanji questioned, Maxi having just finished telling an anecdote concerning said nephew.

"He's a cute little bugger. Always going on about how he's going to find my father and join his crew. He's always been obsessed with pirates. It's like it just runs in the blood or something." Maxi was smiling like an idiot at this point. "We're really close-er-well, we were. I haven't seen him in nearly three years."

"Why so long?" Sanji inquired.

"Well you see...my family isn't very well off. We're poor as poor can be without actually being homeless. So in order to make some money, I set out with this baby." He explained, rubbing the counter of his floating food stall as he did. "Don't get me wrong, my brother worked his ass off to support his family. It was just that it wasn't enough. His job didn't pay all that well and his wife couldn't get a job since she had to take care of their son. And as for me, well, I tried to be a food vendor back in our village, but it just didn't take. No one had much money, so rather than eat out, they would buy the cheapest ingredients they could and cook their barely a serving size meals." He stopped suddenly then, frowning now.

"Anyway, I've been sending money to them every month since I set out. It's never much, but it's more than I was able to make back in the village, so it's worth it. Since it's not enough to sustain them for long though, I can't afford to go back, at least not yet. So I work myself ragged in hopes that one day I can go back and enjoy being with my family without the fear of us all starving." Maxi's frown had faded, but his smile didn't come back either.

"I see." Was Sanji's only response for a while, Luffy beginning on the last bowl of food beside him before he spoke again. "Maxi?"

"Yeah?"

"This nephew of yours, what's his name?"

"His name?" Maxi repeated, a little surprised. "You mean I didn't tell you? Must have slipped my mind. His name is Tobio."

"Tobio?" Luffy repeated, putting down an empty bowl as he did, finally finished eating. "What about Tobio? Is he here?" The rubberman questioned, taking a quick look around as he did.

"You know Tobio?" Maxi queried.

"Sure I do. He came to the island with us."

"He what!?"

Suddenly a loud crash echoed across the island.

* * *

Zoro, hopelessly lost but having no clue to that being the case, was once more smack dab in the middle of the island. However, as he moved to go farther than he had gotten last time, for some reason he pulled a one eighty and was about to walk back toward the part of the coast the crew had dropped anchor. Before he could make any significant progress in that direction though, thankfully, the sound of a loud crash caught his attention.

Changing direction, he headed for where the noise had come from.

* * *

Nami, Usopp and Tobio were crouched low with their hands covering their ears protectively, as El Drago went to town on the castle with his devil fruit ability, which they had learned he got from the Shout Shout Fruit. As for why he was unleashing attack after attack on the castle, well, the one with orange hair of the three had said that the treasure was hidden all about in the castle after she was asked where all the gold was. She had waved him off, wished him luck and prepared to make a break for it, Usopp and Tobio coming with her of course. However, El Drago had Golass and Samson keeping them from fleeing, in case they were lying. In which case they would pay with their lives.

They were lying of course, Nami having informed the other two of all the details, so that meant they only had minutes, perhaps only moments, before the man would turn to them and kill them with the same power he was currently using to demolish the white castle before them. This left them silently begging for Luffy, Zoro and Sanji to hurry up and arrive already.

No more than a minute later, the castle lie in ruins, having been completely demolished. There was, of course, no gold to be found in the rubble. Though some of their men sifting through a portion of it did buy them almost another whole minute. Nevertheless, it was abundantly clear there was no gold here, and as the El Drago Pirates realized this, they turned to the three, their rage plain on their faces.

"You lied to me again! You won't get away with it, not this time! You will die!" El Drago yelled, his men roaring in agreement.

Before they could charge however, three figures burst from the foliage around them, said figures were quickly recognized as Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, to Nami's, Usopp's and Tobio's relief.

"What was the loud crashing sound?" Luffy questioned, taking in the scene before him as he did. "Oh, guess it was that castle." He remarked as he took note of the remains of the building.

"So this is where all the racket was coming from." Zoro stated, looking around as he did.

"Nami dearest, are you alright?" Sanji inquired, kneeling before her so they were face to face.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She answered, being helped to her feet by the blonde as she did.

"Hey, aren't you even gonna ask about us?" Usopp asked, as he helped Tobio to his feet.

"You weren't hurt were you?" The swirly browed cook inquired further.

"No, I'm fine." She said, dusting herself off as she did.

"Don't you care if we're hurt or not?" Tobio asked, to receive no answer of course, the blonde continuing to fret over Nami. "You frickin jerk!" Usopp and Tobio proceeded to shout in unison.

"Who are these guys?" Samson wondered aloud.

"The rest of the crew according to the Hyena Three." Golass answered.

"They only have five members? That's pathetic." Samson remarked.

"Indeed." Golass agreed.

"The rest of the crew? Good. I want them all dead." El Drago commented.

"We'll get right on it." Golass and Samson replied in unison.

"You guys are in big trouble! Our captain's here now! And he's gonna kick your asses for messing with us!" Usopp cried, hiding behind everyone else, minus Tobio of course, as he did.

"What are we, chopped liver?" Zoro and Sanji questioned together grumpily.

"Oh, right. Zoro and Sanji will kick your assess too!" Usopp added at the last minute.

The two just rolled their eyes at that.

"Your captain? Which one is he?" El Drago queried.

"That would be me." Luffy answered, popping his knuckles as he did, having picked up on what kind of situation this was almost immediately.

"This shrimp is your captain?" El Drago asked, before he and the rest of his crew, minus the Hyena Three who were cowering away, burst into rowdy, mocking laughter.

Nami looked offended, however no one but her seemed to mind all that much. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji clearly just didn't care. Usopp was too worried about staying hidden behind one of the others to take offense, and Tobio, well he wasn't a part of the crew. Though he did look a little annoyed at the comment, having grown to like Luffy on their journey to the island.

Once their laughter died down, Golass and Samson began moving toward Luffy.

"Alright, well, you guys were good for a laugh, that's for sure. With that said, it's time to die." Samson stated, a cocky smirk present on his face as he did.

"We'll make quick work of you, then we'll continue our search for the gold." Golass remarked.

Before they could reach Luffy, Zoro and Sanji intercepted them. This allowed Luffy to move toward El Drago unimpeded. Luckily for the gold loving pirate, a smile was stretched across his face. He had no intention of going all out, every single member of his crew could tell that by now. That meant the red haired man just might live.

* * *

"So you're my opponent then? That's fine with me." Samson remarked after jumping back, beginning to twirl his bo staff as he did, having been cut off by Sanji before he could reach Luffy.

"Good, because you don't have a choice in the matter." Sanji responded.

"Hmph. Whatever you say pal." With that said, he broke into a run, charging straight for his blonde enemy.

Sanji didn't seem to be paying him much attention, as he pulled his open pack of cigarettes out of his jacket, along with his lighter. He had put his last one out before he came running, so it was about time for a new one.

Slipping one of the tobacco sticks out, he placed it in his mouth and lit up, before sliding his cigarettes and lighter back into his suit jacket. As he finished doing this, the other combatant was upon him.

"Just gonna stand there!? Fine with me! Take this!" Samson cried, as he lept at his opponent, his spinning bo staff coming to a stop as he made for a powerful swing toward the blonde's head.

It never made contact, as Sanji side stepped the attack, causing the brunette to hit the ground and stumble forward, trying to regain his balance before he fell on his face. The cook graciously allowed him the time.

Once he had regained his balance, Samson whirled to face the smoking pirate, his staff gripped tightly as he lashed out with it. As he did, he tried to ram the end of it into the taller man's gut, but missed his mark completely, having been side stepped once more.

Before he could retract his staff however, so as to go for another attack, Sanji had brought his right leg up and then down again, ramming the heel of his shoe down into the center of the wooden staff. It met with just about no resistance, as the wooden construct proceeded to snap in half.

When Samson pulled his arms back to find his weapon of choice broken, no longer a staff in any sense of the word, he could only gape at the two halves. "Wha-what? Ho-how?" He questioned simply, disbelieving of what had just happened. 'This staff has held up against Golass's sword with no problem! How could it be broken so easily!?'

"Hate to break it to you buddy, but you need a new weapon." Sanji told him snarkily.

"Grr! Why you sunuva bitch! I'll-"

"Collier!" With a quick turn, Sanji had his shin ramming into Samson's throat, nearly crushing his trachea from the force as he slammed down onto his back on to the ground from the impact of the kick to the neck.

"CKK!" Was what the last of his sentence came out as.

The brunette clutched at his throat in extreme pain, barely remaining conscious as he lie on the ground. He tried to speak once more, but it was garbled and completely unintelligible. Needless to say, he'd need a doctor. Oh and that he was out of the fight of course.

"Well, that was disappointing." Sanji remarked, after exhaling a mouthful of smoke.

**Sanji vs Samson**

**Winner: Sanji**

* * *

Golass sneered at Zoro, as they crossed blades. "Three swords huh? You must be Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter. So why have you only drawn one?"

Said one sword was the Wado Ichimonji of course. "Because to beat you I only need one." The green haired man remarked with a confident grin, not bothering to explain he wasn't nor had he ever been a pirate hunter, everyone had just called him that.

"What was that!?" The large man questioned with a growl. "How dare you make light of me!" He shouted in rage, pulling his blade back and thrusting it out at his enemy as he did.

Zoro blocked the sword-jab, stopping it as he did, using the flat of the blade to do so. This effectively killed the momentum of the attack, which left the larger man at a disadvantage. Just as he realized this though, the strawhat swordsman forced him to stumble back, having pushed against the large blade with his own, nearly knocking the big man down completely.

Golass managed to stay on his feet, stumbling as he fought to regain his balance, his opponent eyeing him but making no move to attack further as he did. This only angered the dark skinned man further, as his fellow combatant made it so plainly clear that he was going easy on him by not following through with the advantage he had just gained.

"You dare to go easy on me!? I will make you regret it!" He exclaimed, as he righted his position and prepared to attack once more. "Now..." He began, jumping several feet back as he did, before beginning a dead ahead charge towards his foe. "...you die!" He cried, leaping into the air as he did, lifting his blade overhead before bringing it down with all his might, his descent increasing the power behind the swing.

The green haired swordsman made no move to dodge however, as he took hold of the Wado with both hands, before surging forward at the last moment, at the same exact time Golass landed on the ground, his feet burying themselves several inches into the ground as he did.

Before the large snarling man even realized his blade failed to make contact with it's intended target, the thing fell apart, dismantling into two pieces as it fell to the ground. As much as this shocked him, and hurt his pride of course, what hurt more was the large gash across his sternum, which slowly secreted blood. "Wh-what? Bu-but how!? How could you possibly..!?" He wondered aloud in disbelief, not even finishing his sentence because he was so baffled.

Still, with the last of the strength he had, which was quickly fading, he turned to face his fellow swordsman, who was looking at him as well, sheathing his blade as he did. "You cut through my blade so easily...but...how? I had it specially made, it...it should have been a-as tough as top grade steel. I admit it wasn't quite as tough as the real thing, but it was so close it didn't really matter. So...how? How cou-could you possibly cut through something...that is akin to steel?"

"Steel?" Zoro repeated the word with a quirked brow. "I can cut steel no problem." He informed, lowering his brow as a confident grin crossed his face. "So your imitation of steel didn't stand a chance."

"You...can't...be serious. That shouldn't...even be possible." Were Golass's last words, before he collapsed onto the ground, barely managing to remain conscious as he did.

Zoro scoffed at that. "Amateur."

**Zoro vs Golass**

**Winner: Zoro**

* * *

El Drago wore a rather arrogant smile, as Luffy came to a stop a few inches before him. "And just what do you think you're going to do?" He questioned the smaller man.

"Kick your ass." Luffy answered bluntly.

"Pfft. Hahahahahahahahaha!" The larger man couldn't help but burst into laughter at that.

"What's so funny about me kicking your ass?" The rubberman queried with a quirked brow.

"The fact that you actually think you can!" The long haired man replied, before continuing on his almost uncontrollable laughing fit.

The strawhat captain's brow returned to it's original position, as a frown took the place of his smile. "Well aren't you a jerk." He remarked.

After a few more moments, El Drago managed to calm down enough to speak again. "Look kid, there's no way I'm letting you get away now, so you're screwed there. But you should know just how in over your head you really are. I've got a ten million berri bounty on my head, I got it for all the damage I've caused with my strength. There's no way a shrimp like you could possibly pose a threat to me." He explained smugly.

"Like I care what your bounty is." Luffy responded with a roll of his eyes. "Besides I've got a bounty too. And if we're going by who's is bigger, then I beat you, by a lot." He informed the dark skinned pirate, his frown fading as a smile once again took it's place.

"You have a bounty? And it's bigger than mine? Yeah right, like I believe that." The gold loving pirate commented.

"Well I don't care if you believe me or not, so nuh!" Luffy shot back, sticking his tongue out at the man as he did.

This action didn't seem to particularly bother El Drago, nevertheless, he dropped into a fighting stance, a ridiculously sloppy one, as he prepared to kill his fellow combatant. "Enough, let's just get this over with. I want my gold." With no further warning, he lunged forward at his rubber enemy, slashing at him with his sharp golden claws as he did.

Luffy sidestepped his opponent, not bothering to do anymore than that as the attack missed him completely. El Drago didn't let that discourage him though, as he swiftly turned to face the straw hat wearing teen, slashing at him with his claws a second time as he did.

This second attack was avoided as easily as the first one was, the sixteen year old stepping out of the way with more composure and finesse than anyone gave him credit for. But again, the golden clawed man didn't let it bother him, as he spun to face his foe and lashed out at him again, trying to claw him with his sharp custom nails.

He failed to hit his mark of course, as the swipe of claws was evaded for the third time all too easily. This time however, when he quickly adjusted his position to attack once more, he didn't stop with a single swipe, beginning to unleash a flurry of claw swipes, aiming to carve his opponent up with the tactic. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work much better than single swift swipes, as Luffy moved side to side to avoid each attack, backstepping and sidestepping when needed, as he proceeded to dodge every move made to do him harm.

El Drago quickly grew very frustrated by this, as his swipes became larger, faster and less controlled. He just wanted to nail the little bastard and cut him up, then he could get on with finding the gold, which was, of course, his top priority.

After nearly a minute of this little cat and mouse, Luffy caught his arms mid-swing, keeping them from coming down at him as he spoke. "Oh yeah, I just realized. You said something about gold right? Does that mean you know where Woonan and his gold are? Cause if you do, then would you mind telling me where? We're trying to help a friend find Woonan and we also want to get our hands on that gold. And Nami wouldn't let me hear the end of it if you knew and I didn't have you tell me before I beat you up." He needlessly explained to his foe.

"You want the gold? My gold? MY GOLD!" El Drago screeched, screaming at the top of his lungs. "YOU CAN'T HAVE IT! THAT GOLD IS MINE! ALL GOLD IS FOR ME! MINE, MINE, MINE! THE GOLD IS ALL MINE!" As he continued to shout so loud, the noise began to focus into power, as his voice slowly became destructive.

It took a few moments for Luffy to notice, as the man was yelling in his face, but the longer he did, the more it felt like he was being pushed back by some kind of force. He had ahold of Drago by his arms though, so he wasn't taken back more than an inch or so. Not only that, but the force slowly became more and more focused, until it began to actually do some harm.

At first it was just a weird sensation across his skin, from his head down to his shoulders, but as each second ticked by, the area of effect grew larger, until the weird sensation covered his whole body. What was this weird sensation? Luffy was unsure. However, as he heard the sound of something ripping, he glanced upward at his hat, to see the rim had been torn a little. "Huh?" His confusion showed, as what could have damaged his hat? It was small and barely noticeable, and he hadn't seen what had caused the damage.

The tear grew by the tiniest bit, but it was still noticed. Then there was the sound of bark cracking and breaking from behind him. "What the?" Looking back, he saw the bark of the trees behind him cracking and breaking off, the leaves rustling and beginning to slowly shred.

What did all these things being damaged have in common? They were all in the path of El Drago's voice. In other words, that weird sensation Luffy was feeling, was his skin trying to be sliced and peeled off.

As Luffy realized this, he let go of Drago's arms and jumped away, pressing his hat to his head protectively as he did. "You have devil fruit powers." It wasn't a question.

"I do." The dark skinned man confirmed regardless, having stopped with the wailing the moment his enemy lept away. "I ate the Shout Shout Fruit, which gives me the ability to turn my voice into destructive force. And what you just experienced was just a sample of it's true power. That was when I wasn't even trying to use it. Ready to to see what it can really do?" He inquired with barely masked anticipation brought on by the desire to kill because of his abundance of anger.

"So you're a shoutman? Huh. I actually ate a devil fruit too. I ate the Gum Gum Fruit, so now I'm a rubberman." He informed, as he grabbed his cheek and stretched it out to prove his claim, before letting it snap back into place.

"Good for you. Now die!" El Drago proceeded to rear back then, before throwing his upper body forward, his neck extended and his head out, as he unleashed a wail of destructive force.

Luffy dodged, leaping out of the way, as the force collided with the close to a dozen trees behind him and shattered them into pieces, sending bark and bits of shredded leaves flying everywhere. "Whoa, that's dangerous." He remarked upon seeing the damage it caused.

"Dangerous? No, it's lethal. Now, just die!" He cried, before throwing his head back and then throwing it forward, as he let out a shout of power.

The rubber pirate once more evaded, leaping out of the way and allowing the destructive force to collide with trees and send little debris flying all over the place. This time though, shortly after the force had been unleashed, Drago reared back and shot another one, which was, of course, dodged.

He didn't stop there, as he went on to unleash shout after shout after shout of force at the bouncy rubber teen, all of which would be eluded. It was beyond frustrating and completely infuriating to the gold obsessed pirate, as only two ever even came close to hitting him, since he had to make sure no one else got caught up in the attack. 'Wait...I have an idea.' Drago thought to himself, as he realized this.

"Fine, if you don't want to stand still, then I have other targets!" With that called out, the red haired man turned to Nami, Usopp and Tobio. Rearing back, he prepared to fire another blast of destructive force, only this time..."I'll show you my strongest attack!" As he prepared to fire the force of destruction, his mouth agape as he took aim, a blue light came into existence inside his mouth. This blue light grew brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding, his destructive force taking an almost laser beam-like looking form. "Shout Shout Beam!"

With that he fired on them. And with Zoro and Sanji surrounded by the other pirates, fighting the entire crew, it might take them a little too long to come to the others aid. Then again, maybe it wouldn't. Nevertheless, Luffy didn't even bother to think about it. "Zoro, catch!" With that call he sent his hat flying like a frisbee towards his swordsman, before dashing to where the attack would impact.

Acting so quickly, Luffy didn't even get to think about how cool the attack was, before he was standing in front of Nami, Usopp and Tobio, arms crossed in a x to block, as the beam collided with him and he was assaulted with pure destructive force.

"LUFFY!" Nami, Usopp and Tobio cried in concern from behind him.

El Drago began to laugh almost hysterically, as the force destroyed his enemy's body. Or so he thought...

When the beam faded, Luffy stood there, arms still crossed and looking barely any worse for ware. He was now sporting a dozen or so minor lacerations, the cuts carved into his skin bleeding a little more than was normal, and he had a bunch of scuff marks spread across his arms and face, but was otherwise perfectly fine. In fact, his clothes came out looking far worse than he did, his vest nearly torn in half and his shorts littered with tears, his sandals though, those were strangely okay.

"WHAT!?" Drago squawked in disbelief.

"You know what, I take it back. That's not so dangerous after all." He remarked, uncrossing his arms as he did. "It was actually...kind of pathetic." He added, sounding a little disappointed as he did, also looking a little confused as well.

The gold fetish having pirate was unable to respond, his mouth agape for a completely different reason than attacking.

"Oh! I get it now!" Luffy said suddenly, bumping the bottom of his fist against his palm, the look in his eyes clearly showing that he had finally figured out something that he had been wondering about. "You're actually a weakling! That's why your attacks suck so much." He concluded, his disappointment and confusion from before having seemingly vanished.

That comment got Drago to pick his jaw up off the floor, his rage overwriting his shock and disbelief. "What the fuck did you just say about me!? DID YOU JUST DARE TO CALL ME WEAK!? WHY YOU PUNY LITTLE-URK!" He hacked up a mouthful of blood then, said red substance splattering against the grass.

"Wha-what? Ho-how!?" He questioned, looking down to see Luffy had closed the distance between them and had buried his fist into the larger man's gut. "I am El Drago, captain of the El Drago pirates...how cou-could I be beaten b-by some runt?" Words failed him then, as he doubled over onto the ground.

Luffy, having pulled his fist back at this point, stood up straight. "Huh, I knew he wasn't all that strong, but I didn't know he was that weak. Eh, whatever."

**Luffy vs El Drago**

**Winner: Luffy**

* * *

Luffy thanked Zoro as he handed his hat back, the two walking over to Nami, Usopp and Tobio, Sanji on his way over as well. They were no longer being attacked, for as soon as El Drago fell, the rest of the crew came to a stop, staring at the barely conscious pirate with complete and utter disbelief. The fact that ninety percent of them had gone down against the cook and the swordsman in less than sixty seconds also contributed to this.

Murmurs ran through the crowd of almost a hundred men then...

"Captain was beaten with a single punch, how is that even possible!?"

"They took out our three strongest members without even trying!"

"If we try to fight those guys, we'll die!"

"We're so screwed!"

A short ways away, hiding behind a barely intact tree were the Hyena Three.

"Those three...how the hell did they do that? I knew they were strong, but this is just ridiculous!" Danny remarked.

"I don't know, but I think we should run before they see us. I don't wanna die." Denny admonished.

"Those guys are monsters! Absolute monsters!" Donny added fearfully.

"Uh, you guys know we're literally right here right?" Nami said, getting there attention.

As they moved their eyes to the strawhats, they realized they were hiding behind the same tree they were standing in front of and proceeded to squeal in fright, nearly pissing themselves as they jumped back in fear.

"Was I really kidnapped by these losers?" Tobio wondered aloud to himself, feeling quite embarrassed about being captured by such pathetic wimps.

Usopp however, used this chance to assert himself. "Yes, cower before the Great Captain Usopp! Beg for your lives weaklings! Otherwise I shall unleash my three pupils on you!" He told the fearful three in a cheap and clearly fake tough guy voice, gesturing to Luffy, Zoro and Sanji as he did, all of whom were just staring at the Hyena Three like they were possibly the dumbest people in the world. "You call them monsters, good choice of words. For you see you silly fools, you may be the Hyena Three, but my pupils are...The Monster Trio! Mwahahahahahahahaha!"

BONK

"That's enough of that." Nami told Usopp, who was now on the ground, cradling his head, which now harbored a large lump on it thanks to having a fist rammed into it, tears streaming down his face comically as he tried to continue with his semi-evil laughter.

Before anything else could be said, rustling was heard before someone appeared out of the foliage, almost doubled over as they panted hard. It was Maxi, who after taking in several lungfuls of air, stood up and proceeded to call out, "Tobio, are you here Tobio?"

Tobio's eyes widened, as he turned to the sound of the voice, to see Maxi roughly twenty feet from him. "Ma-Maxi...? Uncle Maxi? Is that you?" He questioned, tears building in his eyes as he did.

Maxi turned to face Tobio, tears building in his eyes as well. "Tobio, my little Tobio!"

"Uncle Maxi!"

They both ran toward the other, tears running down their faces. They met and embraced, the man sweeping the boy up into his arms, hugging him close, as if he hadn't seen him in years. Which, in fact, he hadn't.

As Sanji explained to the other three who Maxi was, Luffy smiled at the scene. He knew how much it hurt to be all alone...you would rather endure any pain out there, so long as you didn't have to deal with the loneliness anymore. So to find someone to take that unbearable pain away, it filled you with such joy that it's indescribable.

This touching scene was interrupted however, as the brown haired man, after having made sure Tobio was okay, bonked him over the top of the head. "Ow! Why'd you do that!?" The nine year old demanded.

"Because! You stupid idiot, what do you think you're doing coming all the way out here by yourself!? You could have gotten yourself killed! And what about your parents, how do you think they feel right now!? They must be terrified! You're trying to find Woonan and Ganzo again aren't you!? You-" He was cut off before he could continue any further, by Tobio.

"They don't feel anything." The dark haired boy said, lowering his head, his voice quivering as he spoke.

"What?" Maxi questioned, not sure what his nephew meant by that.

"They don't feel anything, because they can't feel anything. Ca-cause...they-they're dead." He informed his uncle, his tears coming even faster now.

"What?" Maxi repeated, his eyes wide as dread consumed him.

"They died from some kind of sickness. No one knew what it was, no one could help them. Even if they could, we didn't have the money for a doctor anyway." Tobio explained, his voice cracking as he did.

"Tobio...I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I would have come back if I had. I swear I would have, I'd never leave you all by yourself." This remark caused the boy to start sobbing hard, burying his face into his uncle's chest as he did.

"How long have they been gone?" He inquired suddenly, as he realized someone was still getting the money he was sending back to the village.

Before the child even answered, the brown haired man had a sinking feeling in his gut. But when he did tell him the answer, well..."A...a year. They've been gone for a year now." He had spoken these words through sobs.

"A year..." He repeated, his stomach feeling like it was in knots. "No one took you in...I know they wouldn't, but...but what about the money? I've been sending money back every month, you have been getting it right?" He asked his nephew hesitantly.

Tobio shook his head at that, which just made the nonexistent knots in Maxi's stomach tighter. "I haven't gotten anything from you in nine months. The villagers, they...they said you had died at sea. I...I thought I was all alone!" The dark haired boy wailed, his tears showing no sign of stopping. "I'm so glad you're still alive uncle Maxi!"

It was a fairly safe guess that the villagers, who were stricken with poverty themselves, most likely kept the money for themselves instead of giving it to Tobio like they were supposed to. And they fed him the lie about Maxi being dead so he wouldn't question the fact that he no longer received money or letters from him.

Which was why Luffy and Usopp were frowning, while Nami, Zoro and Sanji scowled at hearing this. Maxi on the other hand, well, it wasn't a guess for him, he knew how the villagers were, he knew without a doubt that was what they had done. And that filled him with rage. 'How could they do that to a child!?' He wondered angrily in his head.

"It's okay, it's okay." Maxi told Tobio, comforting him, hiding his newly found contempt for the villagers as he did by not explaining what happened to Tobio. Though, it was a safe bet he knew, now at least. 'After all, he's a smart kid.' Maxi thought to himself.

All eyes then shifted to El Drago, who was dragging himself across the ground toward the wreckage of the castle, muttering aloud to himself all the while. "Gold...gold...it's all mine, the gold is mine, I won't let anyone else have it!" He declared to no one in particular, as he reached the rubble, still not able to summon the strength needed to stand.

Either he forgot that the gold wasn't in the castle, the ruins of the castle at this point, or he thought they had fought to keep him from getting at it, as he seemed to believe said gold was within his reach. "Gold...gold, Woonan's gold, it is mine! All the gold in the world, it shall all be mine!" He shouted, beginning to wobble to his feet finally as he did.

Just as he reached his full height however, "Wrong, Woonan's gold belongs to me."

El Drago looked up at the man who stood half a foot taller than him, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, with a faint look of recognition.

"Whoa, where did that guy come from?" Usopp questioned.

"He climbed out of the rubble a few moments ago." Zoro answered him.

"I didn't see him among that Drago guy's crew. Wonder who he is? More importantly, how did he get here?" Sanji wondered aloud.

"Who knows and who cares. What matters is the fact that he's after the treasure too! Seriously, how many people managed to find their way to this island at the same exact time as us?" Nami queried rhetorically, obviously annoyed by this new development.

"Guys...is it just me, or does he look familiar?" Luffy asked his crew.

They all glanced at him once more, taking in his appearance as they did.

The man appeared to be in his fourties, stood seven feet tall with a mildly muscular build, had fair skin with a deep tan, shoulder length scraggly light brown hair, and a white tattoo on his face of crossbones, starting just above each eyebrow coming down his cheeks and ending an inch or so below his eyes. He also had the same tattoo across his chest, the ink taking up to the entirety of it. As for clothing, he wore a large black pirate captain's coat worn open with no shirt underneath, raggedy black pants, a red sash, medium length black boots and a pirate captain hat, red and black in color with Woonan's jolly roger on it. He also brandished a cutlass and a flintlock pistol, the sword in his right hand and the gun in his left.

"Th-that's Woonan!" Usopp stated with disbelief.

"What? No way! He really is alive Tobio!" Luffy told the child excitedly, looking toward him as he did.

Tobio was speechless at seeing the great Woonan, eyes wide as he stared at the man. Maxi on the other hand, he looked baffled. "Ho-how is he still alive?"

"Something isn't right here." Zoro said to himself, doing so just loud enough for the others to hear.

"Yeah, no duh! I mean look at him! He looks exactly like he did in the wanted poster!" Nami added.

"And considering how long ago that picture was taken, the guy should be almost a hundred by now." Sanji explained needlessly, just reiterating Nami's point.

"Huh." Was Luffy's only response for a few moments. "Maybe he just aged really well?" He offered.

"Yeah, no. Stop being stupid." Sanji chided him.

No further conversation was had, as they, along with everyone else present, returned their attention to Woonan and El Drago.

"I don't know who you think you are, but the gold is mine! All the gold in the world belongs to me!" El Drago shouted in the taller man's face as he looked up at him, snarling like an animal. He had vaguely recognized him, but before he could make the connection as to who it was, he registered his words and his anger regained it's reigns.

"..." Woonan said absolutely nothing. He just stared down El Drago for several moments, until...

"AHCK!" Drago tried to cry out in pain, but it came out garbled as blood flowed from his mouth and a sharp pain ran through his abdomen. Looking down, he saw the source of his pain, he had been run through with the sword the man wielded, the blade having slid through his flesh like a hot knife through butter, near half the weapon sticking out his back at this point, covered in his blood.

His eyes wide in shock and disbelief, he looked back up at the man to see the flintlock pistol in his face, the barrel placed against his forehead, right between his eyes. He opened his mouth once more, hoping to shoot a blast of destructive force at the man, to knock him away, but nothing more than blood escaped his maw.

Then Woonan fired, the bullet proceeding to rip through the man's flesh, bone and brain tissue, before popping out the back of his head, covered in blood as it fell useless to the ground in the bit of blood that had splattered onto it. El Drago followed soon after, falling back onto the ground with a thud, his eyes wide in fear and his mouth agape in a failed last effort to save his life. Needless to say, as blood pooled around his head, El Drago was dead.

Dead silence. No one so much as let a syllable escape from their lips, too taken off guard by what had just occurred. As for how long this silence could have lasted, no one would know for sure, as it was Woonan who broke it. "The map, whoever has it, give it to me. Now." It was a command, and the repercussions of not following it, well they lie at his feet, in the form of a dead body.

Still, no one, with the exception of Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, so much as twitched, too shell shocked to function, at least for the time being.

Luffy adjusted his hat and prepared to defend Nami, who was clutching the map tightly behind her back.

Zoro flicked one of his blades out of it's sheathe with his thumb, his hand already on the grip, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice.

Sanji stepped to his right, to block the path to Nami with his body.

That was all that took place, before Woonan spoke up again. "The map, give it to me, right now." He said with a growl, his eyes scanning all the people present, searching for it himself as he awaited it to be handed over.

Nami seemed to snap out of it, as she brought the map out from behind her back, her tight grip loosening ever so slightly, as she debated over whether or not to hand it over. Before she could make her decision however...

"This is your last chance, tell me who has the map, now!" He ordered with a bark.

At that the remaining El Drago Pirates, minus the Hyena Three, who were paralyzed by fear behind a tree, pointed to the orange haired navigator in unison, indicating that she was the one who had it. Nevertheless, they made it know verbally as well, just in case. And as they did, Zoro and Sanji regretted not knocking them out.

That was all Woonan needed, as he swiftly turned toward Nami and the rest of the strawhats. Only now, his eyes were narrowed, his anger clear. "Give me my map, now!" He shouted, as he dashed toward them.

He was fast, but Zoro was faster, as he met the man head on, two swords already drawn. They clashed blades, Zoro blocking the way to Nami and Woonan trying to get past.

Woonan pushed forward with all his might, trying to force his way through the swordsman's guard with his cutlass, but the opposing man held strong, keeping the younger than he should be man at bay. Though it wasn't easy for Zoro, as the Wado was still sheathed and it was already clear that this guy was more than a competent swordsman. His physical strength was nothing to scoff at either, the green haired man able to tell by how forceful he was being pushed against with that cutlass. 'Still, I can take him, no problem.' He thought to himself.

The two both pulled back at the same time, before crossing blades again as they began their clash.

This clash lasted barely a minute, but made up for it's short runtime with great momentum and speedy slashes, the sound of metal impacting on metal ringing out with a clang every time one of them blocked a powerful swing. During the course of this little bout, neither man gained the advantage, seemingly deadlocked as each attack was blocked or parried. This equal back and forth wouldn't last though...

Pushing back with all his strength, Zoro was able to force Woonan back a few feet, before he pivoted toward him. The long haired man was ready though, as his pistol was raised and he fired. The bullet's trajectory was the multiple sword wielding combatant's head, but it was sent askew by said combatant, using one of his blades to block it at the last moment, the metal projectile ricocheting into a nearby tree.

The older fighter didn't let that stop him, as he slashed at his foe, aiming for his neck as he did. Zoro saw this coming, as he used his left sword to intercept the slash, before shooting his right one forward and burying it to the hilt in the man's abdomen. Coughing up blood with a katana blade coming out of his back, the impaled man almost doubled over, which gave the green haired teen even more of an advantage. He made the most of it, doing so by pushing Woonan's sword wielding arm away, and then using his left katana to pierce the shoulder of that same arm, running it all the way through.

A strangled growl emerged from Woonan's lips, blood flowing from his mouth and two wounds, as he took aim with his pistol once more. Anticipating the bullet, Zoro pulled back, quickly removing his blades from his opponent's flesh and ducking, just as the man fired, causing the projectile to come barreling out but miss it's intended target and collide with a tree instead.

Zoro delivered a swift slash to each of the man's legs, before returning to his full height to block the incoming swing of his enemy's cutlass, the man wincing as the blades collided because of his wounded shoulder. Capitalizing on that, the dual wielding swordsman pushed his foe back once more, before stepping forward and knocking his blade from his grasp with a strong swing, the older man's grip faltering when metal met metal. He then used his other katana to slice his fellow combatant from one side of his chest to the other, leaving a shallow laceration across it, blood seeping out and beginning to cover his crossbones tattoo.

Acting quickly, Zoro moved to end their little skirmish. With a slight turn and one well placed stroke of each of his blades, he cut Woonan's pistol in half and left a oozing gash on his forearm. He then pulled back, flipping his right sword so he wielded the butt of it rather than the blade, and shot his right arm forward and embedded his fist into the other man's gut, knocking the wind out of him and nearly causing him to double over once again. He then used the butt of his left sword to knock Woonan to the ground, ramming it down into the back of his head to do so, the blow rendering him unconscious before he even hit the ground.

That ended their little tussle, so Zoro turned back to the others and began making his way back to them, giving a single shake to both his swords as he did, causing most of the blood covering them to fly off and onto the ground, before he sheathed them.

Meanwhile, Tobio was dealing with a whirlwind of emotions. Horror, sadness, anger, fear, shock, just too many for him to deal with. Plus he wasn't sure what emotions were related to what events. And as Maxi realized that his nephew was an emotional wreck at this point, he crouched down so he would be eye level with him, having put him down a minute or so ago, and began soothing him. He also tried to keep him from looking at the corpse of El Drago.

"Z-Zoro, yo-you didn't kill him, di-did you?" Usopp questioned a little shakily.

Zoro quirked a brow at that. "Does it look like I killed him?" He queried.

"W-well...yeah, a little bit." Usopp answered him a bit hesitantly.

"No, I didn't kill him. I just knocked him out." Zoro assured the, apparently, squeamish marksman. "Though he'll die from blood loss if he doesn't get patched up soon." He added, his brow having returned to it's original position.

"Oh." Was Usopp's only response to that.

"That's if someone else doesn't finish him off first." Sanji pointed out, referring to the El Drago Pirates, several of who, Golass and Samson included, were crowded around Woonan's unconscious form.

All eyes went to those individuals then, as one of them bared a knife. Seeing what was coming, Maxi made sure to keep Tobio from seeing it, as the pirate that took out the knife used it to slit Woonan's throat, blood spraying onto his chest as he quickly bled out in his unconscious state.

There hadn't been much time to stop him, then again, it didn't really matter to most of them. Though one might wonder why they killed him, as none of the El Drago Pirates seemed particularly fond of their captain. They needn't bother wondering however, as that question was quickly answered.

"I've killed the bastard that did in our captain. With that, I'll be taking his place as captain of the El Drago pirates." The man said, not looking any tougher than the rest of the grunts despite his gall.

There were murmurs from the crew, but no outright refusal. Golass and Samson seemed like they wanted to object, however they could barely stay on their feet. They knew they wouldn't stand a chance against anyone at this point, too weakened from their battles, if you could call them that, with Zoro and Sanji respectively. So they kept quiet. After all, they could always mutiny at a later date.

The grunt looking to be captain stepped away from Woonan's body and began looking around. Not seeing anyone objecting to his proclamation, all eyes on him at the moment, at least among the El Drago Pirates anyway, a smug smirk etched itself into his face. "Good, then it's decided."

Taking several paces forward, he began barking orders, commanding them to get back to work looking for the gold. When anyone objected, he threatened them. When anyone brought up the fact that they had just gotten their asses kicked and that said persons who had kicked their asses were like ten feet away, he demanded they shut up and let him worry about that. As far as he was concerned, that gold was all that mattered. Just as El Drago would have done.

"Another fool comes to take my treasure? You will meet the same fate as the last one." All eyes went wide at hearing this voice, as everyone whirled to face the person who had spoken those words.

They were all taken back however, as instead of seeing Woonan like they had expected, there stood a skeleton built of thicker than average bones. He was devoid of any flesh once so ever, even his eye sockets vacant, at least of eyeballs. There was a creepy red light emanating from said sockets, said lights half the size of irises, these red lights seeming to be his eyes, as they moved about, making it appear that he was scanning the area, before settling back on the grunt who had declared himself captain.

Some of the most disturbing things about this thing? First, the fact that instead of hands, it had a cutlass and a flintlock pistol mounted to it's wrist bones, the same exact models Woonan had been using. Second, the fact that the bones it was made up of were a dull grey with splotches of black and brown spread about the collective structure, said bones obviously decayed. Finally, there was the fact that he wore the exact same clothing that Woonan had been wearing, down to the last detail. Even the tear in the left shoulder of the jacket, from Zoro stabbing him with a sword, was present. The only difference was that it covered more of this thing's form, since it was only six nine, rather than seven feet.

"W-what the hell is that thing!?" One of the Hyena Three cried out in shock and fear from behind the same tree as before. They weren't the only ones, both Nami and Usopp having screamed in fear at the sight of it as well

No one paid them any mind, as the skeleton spoke once more. "Are you all here for my gold?" He inquired suddenly. Without waiting for an answer, he followed that up. "I see. Then I shall kill you all!" He declared, his jaw not moving at all as he did.

Without warning, he fired his hand-pistol, the bullet hitting it's mark and tearing straight through the grunt-captain's cranium and popping out the back, falling to the grass covered in blood, the body of the man following a moment afterward.

Not a moment passed before the skeleton was on to his next course of action, shoving the six men who had been standing near the grunt-captain, Samson and Golass being two of them, toward Zoro. Doing this with his considerable strength, he took the men off their feet and had them damn near flying at the swordsman.

The green haired teen, who had redrawn the two katana he had just sheathed a minute ago in order to combat this skeleton, had no choice but to meet the six men head on, as he didn't have enough time to dodge. Having no real desire to kill them though, and not having enough time to resheath the swords, he turned them so the six would meet the flat of the blades.

As over twelve hundred pounds collided with the flat of his blades, Zoro didn't so much as budge an inch, nor did he seem to exert any real effort as he kept the men from colliding with him. Before he could push them off his swords though, the skeleton took advantage of the predicament he was in, surging forward, cutlass raised, bringing it down with a wordless cry as he passed by the currently occupied swordsman.

In an instant, the damage done became clear. The six men fell apart, blood and organs splattering all over the ground and soaking it in crimson, as the twelve halves of their bodies hit the ground with light thumps. The blades of the two swords broke in half in a jagged manner. And Zoro was left with a medium depth gash across his chest, from his collar bone down to his naval, blood seeping from it and staining his white shirt red.

The cry of pain he gave at the inflicted wound was drowned out by the shouts of, "ZORO!" From Luffy, Nami and Usopp.

The whole clearing was quickly consumed in noise, as Tobio, who had seen this, began wailing in fear, shock and sadness, Maxi fought to keep his lunch and comfort his nephew, the El Drago Pirates slung curses and muttered words of disbelief and the Hyena Three lost the contents of their stomachs across the ground behind their tree.

Nami was horrified, Luffy was caught between rage and concern, Sanji couldn't hide his shock and Usopp was filled with dread and worry, so much so that they overpowered his feeling of being sick at all the gore before him, as Zoro stumbled back in pain, his grip on his now broken katana faltering, what was left of them falling from his grasp before he proceeded to collapse onto his back on to the ground.

The skeleton was now far too close for comfort, less than three feet from the other strawhats. And his intentions were all too clear, as he leveled his bloodied hand-sword toward Nami. "My map...I will have it back! I will get what's coming to me! That gold shall be mine!"

He pivoted forward to skewer her, but was intercepted by Luffy. "Gum Gum Bazooka!" With a slam of two open palms, the skinless and non-muscle having being was sent flying back, coming to a stop shortly after as it crashed into the ruins of the castle, knocking up a whole bunch of dust in the process.

"Wha-what is that thing!?" Usopp queried with incredulity, said thing already getting back to it's feet, rubble rising and falling back to the ground as he came out from under it.

Just like with the Hyena Three, no on responded to Usopp's question. Only this time it was out of not knowing rather than ignoring.

"A-are you alright Zoro?" Nami asked with concern, as said swordsman rose to his feet, not bothering to retrieve his broken and useless blades as he did.

"Fine." He answered nonchalantly, wincing as his hand grazed the slash mark on his torso. "It wasn't a very deep cut." He added. At the same time thinking to himself, 'Though it could have been.', looking at the cut in half corpses of the six dead men as he thought this.

Luffy's rage had fizzled and shrunk away as Zoro showed he was fine, though a good deal of anger still remained, even as he spoke, "Your swords..."

"Yeah, bastard cut through'em." He said, stating the obvious. "To cut through those guys, two of my katana and slice me up? That guy is the best swordsman I've met since I set out from my village." He continued. "I'd say he's almost as good as me." He remarked further, a cocky grin crossing his face as he did.

Luffy, in spite of his anger, couldn't help but grin back at him. If he was making comments like that, then he really was fine.

"You mean you're actually okay? So that cut's no big deal? Seriously!? H-how!?" Usopp questioned incredulously, as perplexed by the green haired teen as he was by the walking and talking skeleton.

Nami sighed exasperatively then, her fear melting away, mostly. "I should have known better than to be worried about you. You're literally too stupid to die."

"Whoa, really? That stupid?" Sanji inquired with mild curiosity.

"Oh yeah. And believe me, I would know. I've seen it first hand more than enough times when we were kids." Nami replied.

"I knew he was stupid, didn't know he was that stupid." Sanji admitted with a mirthful smirk.

"Hey, shut up would you!?" Zoro growled at the two.

"What is wrong with you guys!?" Maxi suddenly inquired, gaining the strawhats attention. "Eight people are dead, there's a walking and talking skeleton about and he's trying to kill you to boot! How can you be so...so...so casual about it all!?"

"Eh?" They all questioned in unison, looking toward the brown haired man with expressions on their faces that clearly showed they hadn't been listening to what he had been saying.

Despite his whirlwind of negative emotions, Tobio chuckled lightly at the pirates antics, unable to help but find them funny. Maxi noticed this of course, since he had him wrapped tightly in his arms. 'Did he just laugh? At a time like this?'

Maxi looked toward the five strawhats then, letting his gaze linger, before returning it to his nephew, who was staring at the five as well.

"What are you crying about Tobio? Everything'll be just fine, don't you worry." Luffy told the boy suddenly, their eyes having met.

"A pirate shouldn't shed tears so easily." Sanji commented.

"So dry your eyes kid." Zoro added.

"An-and don-don't b-be sca-scared, because pi-pirates have g-got t-to be bra-brave." Usopp remarked shakily, the skeleton now standing and glaring right at them, scaring the marksman greatly.

"Don't sweat it, we got this." Nami assured the boy with a confident smile and a wink.

And just like that, to Maxi's astonishment, Tobio nodded his head and began to wipe away his tears, wiping the snot that had been hanging from his nose off onto one of his sleeves as well. 'How could they have such an impact on him in such a short time?' Maxi wondered to himself, as his nephew calmed down greatly before him.

The El Drago Pirates were flabbergasted by everything that had occurred, words failed them and they were rooted to the ground out of nothing more than disbelief and shell shock. First the effortless defeat of their strongest fighters, then the homicidal skeleton, now the casualness of the other pirates about the whole situation. It was too much for them to comprehend.

"You won't stop me...no one will stop me." The skeleton said, his red light-like dots burrowing into Luffy, then Zoro, then Sanji, then Usopp and then finally into Nami. "I've been after that treasure for nearly sixty years. And I'm so close...so very close. No one will take it from me!" The skeleton cried in anger, his body flickering like a light trick, causing Woonan to appear in his place for a few short moments before fading from existence, leaving the skeleton again. His voice also changed in those short few moments, it coming out as Woonan's before returning to it's original, which was slightly deeper and more gravelly.

"What the?" Was the response from just about everyone as this happened.

"Woonan had everything. Women, power, fame, riches! All of which should have been mine! All mine! I wanted them more than he did, I deserved them more than he did! Did I get them though? NO! Did I get anything at all!? Of course not! Everything went to the captain, to Woonan! I was his first mate, and still I received nothing! But finally, FINALLY, I'm on the cusp of getting what I deserve! THAT SELFISH BASTARD! He hid all the gold he had amassed, and he had the gall, the fucking gall, to refuse me my right to have it! But that's okay, IT'S OKAY! Because I made a map, yes a map, my map, to guide me to the gold. All I had to do was wait for the right time to use it. Only, only it didn't go as planned." He trailed off for a few moments then, muttering incoherently about how it wasn't supposed to happen.

It didn't take him too long to pick back up where he left off though. "He was there, waiting for me. He didn't want me to have what I deserve, he wanted to keep me from what is mine, MINE! But I showed him, I SHOWED HIM! I drove my dagger deep into his chest and let him choke on my special poison! He crawled away, not sure where he went, it never mattered since he'd die no matter what. But that was where I made my big mistake, I should have tortured him, should have forced him to tell me where the gold is! I've yet to find it, AND THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE! I searched for years, never did find it. Then I died. But that was okay, IT WAS A-OKAY! Because I could still look, yes, still look. And I no longer had to eat, or drink or anything, it was almost perfect. Except it wasn't. BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE WHAT WAS MINE!" He broke into nonsensical muttering again then.

If he had eyes, they would have been bloodshot all to hell and probably popped out of his head at this point, some of the pirates mused. It seriously sounded like he popped a blood vessel, of which he had none, every sentence or so. Quite frankly, he sounded like a babbling madman. He was crazy, everyone could see that, there would be no argument on the subject.

His muttering filtered off, as he continued. "After looking for so long, I forgot where I was supposed to be looking. How silly of me. So you see, I NEED MY MAP! BECAUSE I MUST HAVE THE GOLD, IT'S MINE, IT'S WHAT I DESERVE!"

The whole time the talking skeleton went on his tirade, his body and voice flickered back and forth between his bone form and Woonan. Halfway through his rant though, a new development occurred. He flickered to Woonan, then to skeleton, then to Woonan, then to skeleton, then he took on a new form, his voice remaining the same as it was in his skeleton form.

This new form was of a fourty something man who had fair skin, stood six foot nine, had a mildly muscular build, short black hair, a simple stubble goatee and a scar on his face, trailing down from his temple to his chin. For some reason he retained Woonan's attire though.

When he entered this form, both Maxi and Tobio audibly gasped.

"Father?"

"Grandfather?"

Before the strawhats could question the two at their reactions, the form of the skeleton began to flicker at a quicker pace, as he exploded in an enraged scream. "I WON'T LET ANYONE KEEP ME FROM WHAT IS MINE ANY LONGER! NO ONE WILL TAKE THIS FROM ME! YOU WILL ALL DIE FOR TRYING TO!"

With that he threw himself into the crowd of El Drago Pirates and began slaughtering them, making his way toward the strawhats as he did, more specifically, Nami.

As bodies began to mount and screams filled the air, the Hyena Three decided that they had had enough and took off, sprinting at top speed back toward where their crew's boat was docked. They weren't going to die for gold, no matter the amount.

At the same time, blood beginning to fly as the undead being carved his way through the men, Nami came to Maxi and Tobio, encouraging the two to get moving. "We've got some gold to find after all." She said with a smile, soothing the kid's nerves, as well as exciting herself at the prospect of it. Usopp also tagged along, following behind, back a few paces and glancing worriedly behind him, fearful of the rampaging skeleton.

Despite wanting to protest, Maxi went along with them, after Nami told him the others would handle the crazy skeleton-man that is.

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji stood at the ready, preparing to take the handless skeleton man on. Even as the El Drago Pirates flew into a blind panic and attempted to flee, the ensuing stampede locking the trio in the middle of the clearing, they didn't so much as waver. They were more than ready for this.

Luffy had a different plan however. "Zoro, Sanji, you guys keep the others safe. I'll take care of this guy."

Zoro gave his captain a questioning glance.

"You sure?" Sanji inquired.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I can take him. Besides, he's after Nami, if he manages to slip past us and no one's there to protect her..." He didn't bother to finish that sentence.

"You're right, my dear Nami is defenseless!" Sanji stated, suddenly appalled at himself for not following after her. "I will protect you with my life my dear!" The blonde called after the cartographer, as he spun around and ran after her, shoving as many of the El Drago Pirates out of the way as necessary, and to him, in this situation, that was all of them that were within reach.

Luffy stifled the urge to frown at Sanji's words, while Zoro rolled his eyes at the cook's antics, before accepting Luffy's hat. "Give that to Nami would ya?" The rubberman said as he let go of the straw hat.

"Of course Captain." He replied with a smirk.

Nothing more was said between the two, nothing needed to be. So the swordsman was off, managing to shove his way out of the stampede of men in only moments.

This left Luffy standing there in the middle of the clearing, the stampede finally thinning out to the point where only a few men remained in the area. Only, instead of facing his opponent like he thought he would, he only saw the eight corpses from before, plus nearly three dozen new ones.

Turning around, he saw the stampede coming back at him, as the flickering appearance skeleton had circled around and cut them off. This allowed him to continue his killing spree. The casualties were increased even further then, as with no where to run, most of the men began trying to fight back, beginning to kill one and other in doing so. And when some did manage to get at the skeleton-man, they were simply rebuffed without effort.

Because of this, and the pirates trampling some of their own, the kill count stood at roughly seventy by the time Luffy intervened, doing so by cutting the skeleton off as he tried to follow after the rubber teen's friends, moving to do so after realizing they weren't among the crowd of pirates he had been slaughtering. In doing this, he also stopped several more El Drago Pirates from being killed.

As Luffy confronted this skeleton, the pirates would have ran for it, but they were all either unconscious or too wounded to do so, the entirety of what was left of the crew lying on the ground, scattered about the clearing.

"Look you're really awesome and all, being a talking skeleton and stuff, but I'm not going to let you hurt my friends." The rubber teen told the undead being, putting his dukes up as he did, showing he was ready for a fight.

"You think I care about your friends!? I don't! All I care about is what's coming to me! My gold, MY GOLD! NO ONE WILL TAKE MY GOLD FROM ME!" He shouted at the top of his non-existent lungs, as he pivoted toward his enemy with a slash of his cutlass.

The dark haired pirate sidestepped the swipe of the blade, it barely missing his head as he did, before coming face to face with the barrel of the skeleton's flintlock pistol. As he did, there was not so much as a word spoken, the skeletal man firing on him. Only the result wasn't what he had been expecting, as the bullet came shooting out of the barrel but when it met the strawhats captain's head, instead of the flesh ripping and tearing, it gave, allowing the bullet to push it back a few inches before coming to a stop and then being pushed back, said metal projectile quickly flung back at the one who had shot it.

Skeleton-man didn't even look surprised at this, then again he didn't have any flesh so he probably couldn't, just bringing his cutlass back around for another slash at his much younger foe. Said younger foe caught the attack, stopping it's momentum by grabbing ahold of his opponent's wrist, killing said momentum. Instead of using that as his chance to attack however, like most would, he spoke again, "Before we really get this started, I just gotta ask you something. Cause if I don't get an answer it's going to drive me crazy."

First pausing for dramatic effect, Luffy proceeded to inquire, "How do you poop?"

He didn't receive an answer of course, as the undead man just gave a wordless cry of rage, before lifting his right leg and using it to kick his fellow combatant dead in the chest, the strength behind the blow sending the rubberman skidding back about a foot or so, having not been ready for it.

Not wasting his opportunity like his adversary had done, the body flickering being quickly closed the distance between the younger pirate and him, then shoulder charged him with all the strength he had, feinting for a swing of his blade as he did, just for good measure. He also took two pirates from the ground and shoved them at his enemy, just in case.

It worked like a charm as the hatless straw hat pirate was sent to the ground hard, not able to defend himself with having to dodge the feint and shove the men away. He was sent tumbling back across the ground towards the ruins of the castle, as the attack had a great deal of force behind it.

Now the gold obsessed thing could have followed that up, but chose not too, as it spun around and went dashing after the ones who had it's map.

* * *

Nami and the others had just arrived at the stone whale, Sanji and Zoro having joined them shortly before they arrived. It honestly surprised a few of them, Nami, Usopp and Tobio, that they had gotten over here so fast. Then again, one tends to run pretty fast when the threat of a homicidal skeleton has reared it's ugly head. 'Not to mention the fact that we didn't take the long way, like I had those idiots do.' She was of course thinking of the El Drago Pirates.

"Alright, we're back here again." Nami said unneededly, bringing the map close and glancing at it once more, double checking the instructions about the whale as she did. "From here we head North. Let's go." She told the others, adjusting Luffy's straw hat atop her head as she did, Zoro having given it to her when they met up.

Most of them followed her without a word, Zoro did grumble something about her being bossy though. She made a mental note of it, but didn't pay it any real attention, not with a whole bunch of gold on the line.

From there they, of course, went North, Nami making sure Zoro didn't get lost along the way as they moved through the forest.

Before too long they emerged from that forest, coming out into a large rocky plain. It made up roughly a fourth of the island, maybe more. And located at the very back of the said rocky plain was the mountain they had seen from the ship, the hundred foot rock formation, and, according to the instructions on the map anyway, it seemed to be where the gold was located.

"Looks like we have some climbing to do." Sanji remarked, as he sized up the mountain.

"Let's get to it first, then we'll deal with how we're going to get up there." Nami said.

"Who knows? Maybe there's a cave at the bottom and we won't have to climb at all." Tobio put forth.

No one looked all that sure of that idea. But before anymore could be said on the subject, frantic screaming caught their attention. "MY MAP! GIVE ME BACK MY MAP! IT'S MINE! MINE!"

Eyes widening, everyone knew who that was. And just as they turned, there he was, bursting out of the foliage, his skeletal form gone, his body now continuously flickering between Woonan and the other human form. "YOU! GIVE ME BACK WHAT'S MINE!" He cried, charging the orange haired navigator as he did, cutlass raised.

Sanji intercepted him before he could get to her though, kicking the blade, knocking it out of the body flickering being's hand and sending it flying twenty feet away. Not letting that stop him, the undead man took aim with his flintlock pistol, but had his trajectory thrown off as the blonde kicked his arm, the bullet coming out and sent soaring into the sky.

"You guys get going, I'll take care of this uncouth jackass." The cook told them.

There was a moment of hesitation, but it faded and they took off. As they did, the swirley browed teen could hear Tobio asking, "You guys don't think that thing k-killed Luffy d-do you?"

"Of course not. It probably just lost him in the forest." Nami reassured the child.

"How can you be so sure?" Maxi questioned, seemingly thinking the teen had died.

"Because I know Luffy." Nami told him, she was smiling as she did, the blonde could hear it in her voice.

"Yeah, he and this witch have a tendency to get lost a lot." Zoro explained.

"That's you asshole!" Nami bit back at him.

Sanji diverted his attention away from them then, spitting out his cigarette and stomping it out as he did. He would smoke after he dealt with this undead ass. Besides, that one was just about done anyway.

The undead being, which the chef was beginning to suspect was Ganzo from how Tobio and Maxi reacted, flickered to his skeleton form then, his cutlass mounted to his wrist once more. Then he flickered back to Woonan and his flickering came to a stop, and as he did, the teen noted that he held his cutlass once more, the one that had been sent flying now absent.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" Ganzo-Woonan screeched, thrusting his cutlass at his new opponent as he did.

Sanji backstepped the thrust, avoiding being pierced by the tip of the blade as he did. He then ducked, as the deceased pirate fired on him, the bullet whizzing past his head, almost taking one of his hairs off as it did.

But now it was his turn to go on the offensive, so he did. Standing up, he launched a strong kick, aiming for his Woonan looking opponent's side. It was blocked of course, the man bringing his arm down to intercept it and kill it's momentum. Pulling his leg back, he went for the same type of kick with his other leg, but had to pull back before it met it's mark as his foe attempted to sever the appendage with his sword.

Then he kicked straight out with the other leg, the one he had tried to kick him with first, the sole of his foot hitting it's mark as it nailed his enemy's sternum, knocking him back and onto the ground from the force of the impact.

Now that would have taken a normal man out of the fight, what with Sanji's superhuman leg strength and all, and would knock the wind out of someone strong enough to take the cook on, but not this guy. He began getting back to his feet immediately, not any worse for the ware once so ever. 'He's already dead, so I guess it only makes sense that he doesn't feel pain.' The blonde thought to himself.

Since that was the case, he decided not to let him have anytime to attack. Closing the distance between them then, he brought his left leg up and hooked his foot around his foe's neck, said foe having just finished getting to his feet. "Reception!" He shouted, as he used his leg to force Ganzo-Woonan face first down into the ground, his head almost bouncing off the hard surface from the severity of the impact as it smashed into it.

The move busted his head open, blood pouring generously down his face because of it. Even still, he began getting back to his feet immediately, hardly, if at all, shaken by the attack. Hell, he hadn't even let go of his weapons. So Sanji just hit him again, raising his right leg into the air, extending it to the fullest as he did, before bringing it down and ramming his his heel into his adversary's right shoulder. "Epaule!"

Ganzo-Woonan was forced several inches into the ground from that attack, making an impression in the orangish brown rock, but once again, he began getting up again, no sign of slowed movement. Though he did seem to finally be in pain, wincing as he got to his feet once more. 'Okay so he can feel pain. Which means he wasn't acting when Zoro ran him through with those katana of his. But he doesn't actually seem to take much damage. He keeps going no matter what's inflicted on him...and then in his skeleton form, he seems to be devoid of pain, him brushing off Luffy's bazooka showed that. Now how do I use that to my advantage?' He wondered to himself, not sure how to stop an opponent who seemed unkillable.

The blonde noticed then, it pulling him from his thoughts as he did, that the undead combatant had taken aim with his flintlock once again. As he prepared to dodge, to avoid being hit with the bullet, he realized it wasn't aimed at him. Glancing behind him, he saw it aimed directly at the back of Nami's head, the young teen roughly thirty yards away.

Now the chances were slim that the bullet's trajectory would allow it to hit it's target, as it was a pistol not a rifle and the distance wasn't something to scoff at even for a marksman, but the fact it could happen, that was enough to get the chef to act.

As the pistol was fired and the bullet barreled out, Sanji lept in the way of it's path, causing it to meet and run through the flesh of his right shoulder, popping out the back of it soon after, smothered in his blood as it fell uselessly to the ground.

The only sign he gave of pain as his body hit the ground was a sharp intake of breath, even still, his foe used it to his advantage, advancing upon him and driving his cutlass down at him. The cook didn't have time to fully evade, as he was caught by the sword mid-roll to get away from it, the blade piercing his left arm, running through and out the other side of his forearm, pinning him to the ground said appendage. "Shit!" He hissed in pain, as blood ran from his new wounds.

Taking aim once more, the undead being prepared to gun his swirley browed enemy down, his sights set on his forehead, looking for a good headshot.

"Oh come on, don't you ever have to reload!?" The well dressed teen queried angrily and incredulously.

He didn't receive an answer of course, the Woonan looking man just pulling the trigger instead of speaking. Despite having hoped the man would bother to answer, to give him a moment or two to get out of his current situation, the blonde was still able to turn the tables.

He did this by moving his head at just the right moment, allowing the metal projectile to hit the ground and bury itself into it, said projectile taking a few of his hairs off as it did, nearly grazing the side of his scalp. Not wasting time, he took the single second that bought him and took hold of the cutlass by it's blade and forced it upwards and out of his flesh, blood dripping from it as it came out, Woonan-Ganzo unable to stop him as he did.

Jumping to his feet, he brought his right leg careening toward the appearance changing man, but was stopped in his tracks as the man caught it, dropping his pistol to do so. Not letting that deter him however, he took his left leg off the ground and threw it onto his opponent's shoulder, digging the heel of his shoe into the guy's flesh as he kept himself from falling back on to the ground.

The voice changing being let go of the well dressed man's leg then, to grab ahold of his other one, locked behind his shoulder. Taking hold of it, he lifted the cutlass in his other hand, which he still held even after it was forced back up away from the blonde, and prepared to sever the limb. Before he could though, his foe used his now free right leg to kick him in the side of the neck. It caused him to hiss in pain but nothing more really. Except that he decided that, instead of severing his enemy's leg, he would impale him, which he proceeded to do, burying his cutlass to the hilt in the cook's stomach, said cook unable to defend himself in his current position.

Sanji coughed up blood as he was stabbed through the gut, blood oozing from his stomach wound and staining his clothes, even more so when his opponent pulled the weapon back out of him. Even with the pain this caused, the teen pirate still continued to maneuver himself, moving his leg and placing his right foot against the right side of the thing's neck by the heel. He then shirked his left leg from his fellow combatant's grasp and brought it to the other side of his neck, digging his heels into both sides of his neck at this point.

Then, as gravity asserted itself and Sanji's upper body fell toward the ground, he jerked both his legs and feet to his left with all his might, forcing his adversary's head to come along, breaking his neck with a sickening crack as he did.

As he heard the sound of it, he removed his feet and allowed his body to hit the ground once more, Ganzo-Woonan's head hanging to the side limply, his body stock still for a moment or so, before proceeding to collapse onto the ground as well.

Now that should have been fatal, and to just about everyone on the planet, except Luffy since he was rubber, it would be. But since this guy couldn't die...well, Sanji knew it wasn't over yet. So he began getting to his feet, so he would be ready for when the man stood up, whether as a skeleton or Woonan or the other form, who he was pretty sure was Ganzo.

Yet still he was taken off guard, as halfway to his feet, he noticed Ganzo-Woonan was gone. "What? Where did he go!?" He wondered aloud, before a sharp pain flared through his back, as he was impaled on a blade once more.

Hacking up blood, he collapsed to the ground, as the sword was slid out of his back and the sound of someone taking off was heard. Rolling over so that he was on his back, he looked toward the others, to see Ganzo-Woonan sprinting toward them, in his skeleton form once more. "Damn it!" Sanji spat a bit more blood out of his mouth then.

Getting to his feet, stopping for a single moment to make sure he wouldn't bleed out trying to follow them, he rushed on toward them, as best he could in that state.

He needn't have bothered however, as halfway to them, his eyes widening as Ganzo lunged at Nami, he was knocked aside as someone sped past him.

* * *

"So...anyone figure out what the hell that thing is yet?" Usopp suddenly questioned the others.

There was only silence for a few moments...until Maxi finally spoke up. "I think that thing is my father, Ganzo. Or at least I think it used to be." He had been holding that in for a bit, felt like it needed to be said, so he just came out and said it.

"What!? That thing used to be Woonan's first mate!?" Usopp asked disbelievingly. "Are you sure that guy or thing or whatever is Ganzo!?"

"I think..." Tobio began, his eyes downcast, his sorrow clear. "...I think he's right. I think...I think that thing really is granddad."

"It makes sense, he did mention in that tirade of his that he had been Woonan's first mate." Zoro reminded.

"Which means Woonan is dead and my grandpa is a monster." Tobio stated, clearly disheartened.

"Well we can't know for sure until we find that treasure." Nami commented.

"Nami, not the time!" The marksman of the group scolded, or...well, tried to scold anyway.

She didn't pay him any attention however. "After all, all great pirates leave notes with their treasure. To prove it's theirs and to pass on a message to anyone who comes to claim it, or to ward off anyone who's trying to steal it by telling them in detail what would happen to them, etcatera ectatera. Trust me, I used to steal from pirates, I should know." She continued, catching Tobio's eyes as she did. She was telling a half-truth sure, but so what? If it soothed Tobio, that was all that mattered. Besides, it wasn't a full on lie, she had found that certain pirates tend to leave some kind of message with their treasure...just not so great ones is all.

"That thing, whatever it was, was clearly insane. For now just take everything it said with a grain of salt, as they could have just been the ramblings of a madman. Or mad-skeleton. Or-whatever, you get it." Nami further remarked.

"Nami...thank you." Tobio said, fighting back tears of gratitude as he did.

Usopp retracted his attempted scolding and offered an apology, but Nami brushed it off. It didn't matter at this point.

That became even more true, as the sound of screaming caught their attention. "YOU WON'T TAKE MY GOLD! IT'S MINE! IT'S ALL MINE! IT'S ALL FOR ME! ALL FOR ME!"

Whirling to face Ganzo, they saw he was in his skeleton form, moving ludicrously fast as he did. Perhaps it was because he had no muscle mass? There was no time to ponder such a thing though, as seeing him coming was all they were able to do, as he was too close for comfort and before any of them could react, he lept forward, cutlass at the ready. His target tried to scramble out of the way of course, but they just didn't have enough time. A cry of intense pain ripped itself out of Usopp's throat as he was run through with the skeleton's cutlass-hand, the blade coming out his chest bathed in his blood, having been stabbed from behind while trying to get away.

"USOPP!" Nami, Zoro and Tobio shouted in concern.

"Hrh!" Ganzo grunted as he pivoted forward and tossed the long nosed teen off his sword into Zoro, the swordsman catching the sniper but then being knocked down from a follow up shoulder charge since he was open.

Not wasting even a moment of this opportunity, the bone-made man turned to Nami then, who was in shock, just as Tobio and Maxi were, all of them completely taken off guard by this, and lunged at her, cutlass poised to strike the killing blow.

Normally she would have tried to dodge or run or duck or something, anything at all so as not to die. However, as he came at her like this, images of her nightmare from the previous night flashed unbidden in her mind. This thing...whatever it really was, it looked frighteningly similar to that monster from her nightmare, and that disturbed her to no end. So she found herself unable to do anything but flinch away as her eyes shut tight, bracing herself for death, completely unable to get out of the way in time even if she had tried. Only...nothing ever came.

Opening her eyes back up, she saw a sight that, while admittedly relieved her, she had certainly not been expecting even in the slightest.

Luffy stood just inches in front of her, the only thing between her and death as the skeletal monster continued to try and get at her, it's bloodlust almost palpable. He held it at bay, his right hand gripping it by the top of it's skull, the bottom of his palm and the thing's eyes sockets having less than an inch of distance between them. With the rubberman having to reach upward to do this, without using his ability, it looked just a little ridiculous. Even still, it somehow worked.

The monster wasn't too keen on being held back in such a way, making that clear by swiping at the hatless straw hat teen with his cutlass-hand, aiming to cut him in half, or at least make him let go since he'd have to dodge so it could make it's move. But neither of those things happened, as the raven haired sixteen year old caught the blade mid swing, stopping it's downward momentum. In doing so his palm was sliced open, blood beginning to run from the wound immediately, said red substance trailing down his wrist and arm seconds later, as the cut was deep.

With a single, fluid movement, the strawhat captain proceeded to tear the blade out of the thing's skeletal structure, it's wrist cracking, splintering and collapsing as he did. He tossed it somewhere to the left, before letting his left arm drop back down to his side, not paying any mind to the blood beginning to trickle down his hand and fingers and drip onto the ground as he did.

From there the violent and enraged undead man began to struggle with the young man holding him back, his flintlock fading and a boney hand materializing in it's place, and his damaged wrist repairing itself, knitting itself together and shifting back into it's proper place as a hand emerged from it as well. Using his new hands, which now made him a complete skeleton, he took hold of the dark haired teen by the head as well, one hand taking hold from the left and the other from the right, grasping the entirety of his skull.

He began digging his fingers into his enemy's rubber skin, squeezing with all his might in hopes of damaging his cranium, even looking to smush his head in with the unnatural strength he possessed, killing him instantly. Only that didn't happen, as while he could certainly do such a thing to a normal man, he hadn't a hope in hell of doing it to this one. Not that he understood that or let himself realize it, even as his fingers began to crack with the amount of pressure he was exerting. He did manage to do some damage though, as with his skeletal and almost knife like fingers, he managed to draw blood as they punctured the younger man's flesh.

Even with that being the case, Luffy didn't pay any attention to the blood beginning to be drawn from him or the pain that accompanied it. Besides, said pain quickly came to a halt, as the young pirate used his incredible might to further subdue the skeletal monster, forcing the thing down with the hand he used to grip his skull, doing so until it was on it's knees. And in doing this, he managed to get the thing to stop burrowing it's fingers into him...or his head at least, as the thing's hands fell to his lowered left arm and took hold of it by the wrist and began piercing his flesh at that location, drawing further blood.

Still, the sixteen year old didn't bother to notice, not even so much as a twitch taking place from the sensation of having ten objects stab into him. And as Ganzo-Woonan noticed this, he felt his burning rage increase even further, as he was being treated like he was nothing, at least in his mind. 'No, no, NO! NO! NO! NO!'

"I AM NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY PUNK! I AM NOT A NOTHING! I AM POWERFUL! I AM GREAT! I AM A THREAT! STOP TREATING ME LIKE SOME KIND OF LITTLE BOTHER! I REFUSE TO GO BACK TO BEING A SMALL TIME PIECE IN A BIGGER GAME, I WILL BE THE IMPORTANT ONE THIS TIME, NO ONE WILL TAKE THAT FROM ME! IMPORTANCE IS MINE, THE GOLD IS MINE! THIS TIME EVERYTHING WILL BE MINE! MINE, MINE, MINE!" The skeleton screeched as loud as he could.

But he didn't receive much of a reaction, as the rubberman's head was lowered to a degree, strands of his raven hair covering his eyes, shadowing them from view. And he didn't move even a little from that position as he was screamed at.

A heavy blow was dealt to the undead being's ego at that, as he wasn't even being paid attention to. 'It's just like when I was alive...just like Woonan, this man is mocking me. He, just like everyone else, treats me with indifference. And it's because I have nothing...power, riches, women, fame...I possess none of it. NO! I DO POSSESS SOMETHING! Now at least. I am powerful, and once I have that gold, which should have been mine in life, I will have riches as well. I just need...need...I NEED MY MAP!'

Letting go of his opposition's arm, he let his hands drop to his sides. They didn't stay there long, as his left had faded from existence, and his flintlock rematerialized. Swiftly taking aim, he leveled it to the teenage pirate captain's chest, ready to fire. Though no one reacted, not even his fellow crew, who now all stood around watching the scene play out. 'Long nose, blondie and green hair are all watching and aren't doing anything to stop me...they've mistaken who my target is.'

At the last second, Ganzo-Woonan switched targets, aiming for the one behind the young pirate, his navigator. As everyone realized what he was doing, warnings were called out and the swordsman and cook prepared to jump in and stop him, but all of it was unnecessary.

"DIE!"

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Luffy bellowed, seizing hold of the pistol with his left hand and proceeding to tear it out of the skeleton's build, it firing off and missing it's mark as he did. He flung it away not a moment afterward.

It was at this point, where Luffy's head was up and his eyes could be seen, his rage visible in every part of his face, that Ganzo-Woonan realized something was wrong, very wrong.

"You hurt my crew, my friends. Tried to kill them." He stated icily, leaving no room for argument, all the while increasing the amount of pressure he was exerting on the grip of the undead being's skull he had.

After that only silence remained for awhile, no one daring to speak. Until...

"No one hurts my family and lives." The tone of voice with which this was said was more menacing than anything the undead man had experienced in life.

The skeleton didn't get to contemplate that for more than a second though, as without warning, Luffy utilized his superhuman strength and visibly tightened his grip to such a point, that the thing's skull proceeded to shatter into nothing but dust.

As a breeze came by and the dust scattered in the wind, the skeletal frame of the monster fell backward, collapsing onto the ground. And as it did, what happened settled in the minds of the ones who had witnessed it, and left almost everyone stunned speechless

Maxi and Tobio were both shell shocked and unable to form words. Usopp and Sanji both couldn't hide their shock at what they had just seen, despite trying. Even Nami was unnerved by what had just occurred. Then again, she was more concerned with Luffy's eyes, which she could just barely see from her position, as he wasn't directly in front of her, and at this close a distance she could make out one of them. They were dark and unforgiving. Two things that were the polar opposite of the boy she loved.

It seemed Zoro was the only one unperturbed by the event.

A few more moments passed in an almost eerie like quiet, before Luffy turned around with an almost blinding smile. "So then, where do we go now guys?" He questioned them happily.

"Huh?" Was everyone's, discounting Zoro's, response.

"This way." The swordsman answered nonchalantly, beginning to walk the wrong way, Luffy moving to follow.

"Wait, wait, wait. What was that all of the sudden?" Usopp was the one to ask what everyone else who hadn't been going along with the two had been thinking.

"You know, where do we go to find the gold. Wasn't that what you guys were doing?" Luffy queried, misunderstanding the question, coming to a stop and turning to the others to do so.

Zoro on the other hand kept moving, until he was stopped by Nami who came over and dragged him back to the rest of them. As he was complaining about it, the orange haired teen clarified what they were inquiring about. "What Usopp meant was, what the hell was that? You almost looked like a different person a minute ago and proceeded to crush some monster's skull with your bare hands and then you turn around and act like nothing happened!?" She was clearly exasperated.

"Huh? But I only used one hand..." Luffy said, tilting his head to the side as he did, looking more than a little confused.

This, of course, caused Nami to sigh heavily and irritably. Whenever he did this he was either genuinely confused or dodging the question. In this instance, he was clearly dodging the question.

Since this was the case, Sanji interceded on Nami's behalf. "Look Luffy, you know what we're asking you, so just answer the damn question."

The teen looked like he wanted to object, but with a pout he gave in. "Fine. I got mad alright? He hurt you guys, you and Usopp especially Sanji. Then he tried to kill Nami. He would have killed all of you without so much as hint of regret or remorse. And all for a bunch of gold. That pissed me off, simple as that." He explained to them. "We weren't even really trying to fight him, we were just trying to keep him from getting at Nami. We were just trying to protect her. And he used that against us. He didn't want to fight, he wanted to kill. He didn't have any honor or pride, he was just scum." He was scowling lightly at this point. "I didn't want him to get the chance to hurt you guys again, so I...did that." He finished, gesturing to where the skeletal frame was as he did.

His scowl faded and a smile took it's place once more then. "But that's over now, let's focus on finding Woonan's gold like before."

Silence reigned once more at that, lasting for a dozen or so moments. Which caused Luffy to give them a few confused looks, as he didn't understand what was wrong. The he took a good look at their expressions, Sanji's, Usopp's, Nami's, Tobio's then Maxi's. It was then that he realized with a sinking feeling, that those expressions were all too familiar. "Are you guys...scared of me now?" He asked hesitantly, his voice becoming noticeably smaller as he did. His smile was, of course, entirely gone at this point.

"What!? No! Of course not!" Nami replied immediately without even a half second of hesitation, seeming rather offended as she did. Though her reaction was understandable, as she knew how Luffy felt about this. If his friends feared him, it would do irreparable damage to his psyche. Or in other words, it would tear him up inside to an unimaginable degree.

"Me? Scared of an idiot like you?" Sanji scoffed at the notion. "Yeah right." Despite his words, there was no spite or venom in his voice.

"I-I'm not scared!" Usopp proclaimed proudly, puffing his chest up as he did, in spite of the pain it caused him with his wound. "Well...actually..." He deflated at that point. "I'm not scared of you. B-but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sc-scared at a-all. I mean seriously, the kind of stuff you can do with that strength of yours is frightening Luffy! I am so glad we haven't met anyone who's as strong as you." He admitted with a barely hidden whimper.

Luffy couldn't help it as his smile returned, as he could tell they weren't lying to him. They weren't scared of him, that was a relief beyond measure. He had gotten used to the notion that people would be afraid of him, hell at this point he didn't even care. But if his crew was frightened of him...well, he just wouldn't be able to handle it.

Tobio and Maxi though...well, they were beyond scared, downright terrified of the rubberman. But they kept this to themselves as they protested weakly at being accused of being scared of him. It was discernible on their faces though. But that was okay with Luffy, he could handle them being afraid no problem. Besides, the fear faded from Tobio rather quickly, as the boy reminded himself of just who Luffy was, having gotten to know him for a couple of hours on their way to the island.

"Well alright then! Let's go!" He told them, his smile widening as he turned and began walking in the direction Zoro had led him in a minute ago, the swordsman moving to follow.

Nami quickly dragged them back, so that they didn't wander off and get lost. "That's the wrong way!" She informed them.

"Oh, it is? Sorry, didn't know." Was Luffy's simple reply.

"Yes it is." Zoro argued. "The mountain is straight ahead, so obviously going straight will get us there. A two year old could figure that out." The swordsman added. "Don't you even know how to go straight witch? What kind of navigator are you?" He prodded.

The eighteen year old was right...except for the fact that he had been going right, not straight.

"Oh my god, just what would you idiots do without me!?" Nami cried irately.

Suddenly Maxi wasn't so afraid anymore, as watching the man you're scared of be manhandled by a small, petite girl who looked like she couldn't lift more than a hundred pounds, she could but he didn't know that, had a way of causing that fear to evaporate.

"One more question Luffy, what was that about family?" Sanji inquired.

"That's an easy one." The teen said from where he sat on the ground, Nami having dropped him to it after dragging him back to the others. "You guys are my crew. We live together and I love all of you, if that's not family, I don't know what is." He explained with several lighthearted laughs afterward. Even still, he was completely serious, that was unmistakable.

Nami returned Luffy's wholehearted smile at that. She knew he loved her, both in a romantic and non-romantic sense, but it still felt good to hear it, whichever one it was. 'Both is better though. Much better.' She thought to herself.

Zoro grinned at his captain's words, expecting as much. He might have been embarrassed, but he had gotten used to how affectionate Luffy could be when they were kids. He loved hugs and had no qualms once so ever about letting you know how much he loved you. It didn't matter that it was a purely platonic relationship, if Luffy loved you, he loved you. Whether it be as a brother, a sister, a friend, a parent, or in Nami's case a lover, though she was a friend as well. This fact had of course gotten the two brothers teased when they were younger, but Zoro had shut them up. He was sure Usopp and Sanji wouldn't misconstrue what he meant though, like so many others had overhearing those three words being said.

"Oh, well uh...thank you Luffy." Usopp replied, scratching his cheek self consciously as he did, fighting back the bit of red that had surfaced to his cheeks at the same time. 'Did he have to say it like that?' The long nosed teen wondered to himself. He couldn't help but be embarrassed.

Sanji had been momentarily stunned, too surprised to speak for a few moments. When he did manage to come to his senses though, he took half a step forward and straight up kicked his captain in the face, knocking him flat onto the ground. "Moron. You shouldn't say mushy crap like that to other guys." He chastised halfheartedly, a telltale grin on his face in spite of his actions.

The kick didn't hurt of course, the rubberman popping right back up a moment later with his smile still intact. "Whatever you say." He replied mid-laughter, finding his crews reactions amusing. His tone made it clear that he didn't see what the big deal was.

Since that was the case, the blonde chef just rolled his eyes. He wouldn't bother pressing the issue, Luffy wouldn't listen anyway.

"Hate to interrupt such a touching moment and all, but you guys are gonna bleed to death if you don't get those wounds of yours treated soon." Maxi interjected, speaking to Sanji and Usopp as he did.

Said men in question looked to the brown haired guy, then down at themselves, examining their wounds for a moment.

"Huh, almost forgot I had these." The swirly browed teen commented.

The marksman on the other hand, he went pale and began sputtering unintelligibly. He seemed unable to believe that he had forgotten how serious of an injury he had sustained, beginning to freak out as he did about how much blood he was losing. "I don't wanna die like this, bleeding out on some deserted island with skeleton monsters! I need a doctor! A doctor! Ack-!" He exclaimed suddenly. "I feel so woozy." He stumbled about as he said this, clutching at his chest all the while. "And feel my skin, I'm clammy." He told them, holding an arm out as he did. "And I'm so pale too!" He added, having caught a glance at his skin as he did. "I don't think I'll last much longer. Go on without me, my dear friends." He finished dramatically, before collapsing onto the ground, his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his eyes closing.

He lied there for a few moments, awaiting some sort of reaction. He received none however. Opening his eyes back up, he saw that Zoro and Sanji had taken him up on his offer and continued on without him, while Luffy had his head lowered, looking to be in mourning and Nami, well she was giving him a look that clearly said, 'Really?'. Finally, Maxi and Tobio, well, they were just gawking at everyone in disbelief.

"You jerks, your not supposed to actually leave me!" The long nosed teen cried after the two oldest of the crew. He then shifted his attention to Luffy, "And you stop that! I'm not dead yet ya know!"

"Oh really?" The hatless straw hat teen queried. "That's great!" He replied with a smile.

"Don't be so casual about it!" The liar added with a shout.

"Just get your ass up already. The sooner we get to the mountain, the sooner we can dress your wounds." Nami told the hypochondriac of a sniper.

That certainly got him up, that's for sure, the teen springing to his feet like he was the one made of rubber. "Right!"

As he ran off after the other two of the crew, Nami's gaze wandered to Luffy, to see him taking his torn up vest off. "What are you doing?" She, of course, inquired.

He proceeded to rip it in half, tearing the red fabric into two pieces, giving it to her afterward. "Since the only bandages we have are on the ship, I figured you'd need something to to stop the bleeding." He explained simply.

She smirked at that. "Good idea." As she acknowledged that, she took the two parts of what was once his vest. "You do know that there isn't enough material here to wrap up every injury they have though, right?" She asked then.

"Yeah, but it should be enough to stop the worst of it...right?" He questioned, not a hundred percent sure himself.

Nami nodded her head at that, affirming what he had originally assumed. "Yeah, don't worry."

With that her smile widened and she turned and took off after the rest of the crew.

It was then that Luffy realized Maxi and Tobio were staring at him. "What?" He inquired, quirking a brow as he did.

The two relatives in question continued to stare at him in incredulity. And as they did, the rubberman noticed where their eyes were locked, his torso. "What are you staring at?" He questioned a second time, beginning to feel a little uncomfortable at where he was being stared at.

"How-you know what, I'm not even gonna question it anymore. Nothing really surprises me anymore, not after all this. So just forget it." Maxi remarked, before moving to follow the others, Tobio following along, shaking his head as he did, still unbelieving of everything that just continued to occur.

What had they been staring at? Luffy's lack of muscle definition. He was scrawny with noodle like arms and legs and lacked any noticeable muscle at all, no six pack, no pecks, nothing. And yet he possessed monstrous strength, which the two had witnessed first hand. It perplexed them. But it was, admittedly, one of the least strange things they had seen since having met the group of pirates.

And as they walked off, the teen commented on this, as he had suspected that was what they had been staring at him about. "You have no idea how hard it is to get muscles when you're made of rubber." He grumbled grumpily to himself under his breath. This had been a touchy subject for him since Ace left, since he had been rather muscular at the time of his departure. He hadn't been ripped per se, but he had certainly been chiseled. And no matter how hard Luffy had worked, he had never achieved even a sliver of the same definition. Which was part of the reason he had given up training in the first place. Even to this day, the matter aggravated him to no end.

He muttered under his breath in annoyance a little more, then moved to follow after everyone else, toward the mountain. However, he didn't get more than five steps before he realized something was off. Looking back, his eyes sought out the skeletal form of Woonan-Ganzo, only to find it gone.

Eyes narrowing, Luffy whipped his head to the side, to see the monster there standing by him. Ducking, the teen avoided being beheaded by the powerful swing of the hand-cutlass, only to be caught by the throat, the skeleton having fazed his flintlock out in favor of his hand.

Woonan-Ganzo's grip on the teen's throat was as tight as it could be, the undead being lifting him up to where he stood on his feet, before thrusting his blade-hand at him. The raven haired boy stopped the sword from skewering him of course, killing it's momentum by taking a firm hold of it with his hands, which resulted in his palms being cut up, not that he noticed it too much.

"You. Will. Not. Stop. Me. That gold...belongs to me! ME! IT'S MINE!"

* * *

The others noticed the lack of Luffy's presence immediately, at least his crew did. Maxi and Tobio did as well, it just took them a few more moments. So the group of six turned back, ready to call out to him, intent on telling him to hurry up, only to see him struggling against the skeleton monster.

"You. Will. Not. Stop. Me. That gold...belongs to me! ME! IT'S MINE!" They heard him scream, his voice, despite being so deep, almost ear piercingly shrill at this point.

He pulled his cutlass-hand out of Luffy's grasp then, and then thrusted at him once more. It was caught again, obviously, but that didn't deter the undead being. Using it's enemy's lack of usable hands to it's advantage, it used it's strength to toss the teenage pirate captain aside, using his neck as a grip as he did. This caused his hands to sustain further lacerations, as the blade of the sword he held onto was suddenly yanked from his grasp as he was thrown. "LUFFY!" All six shouted. Four of them knew such a thing wouldn't hurt him, but they were a little bit away and couldn't quite see all the injuries he had accumulated, if any, since they had spoken with him a minute or so ago.

The skeletal being, who was whole again of course, didn't bother to try and continue with his opponent. He let him stay where he lie, having rolled across the ground after being thrown, and made a mad dash for the rest.

"Go!" Zoro barked at the others. "I'll hold him off!" He added, drawing his last remaining sword as he did, the Wado Ichimonji.

None of them hesitated, for one reason or the other, either trusting Zoro to handle it, knowing Luffy wasn't down for the count yet, feeling like they would just get in the way if they stayed, or wanting to protect someone in the group, so continued to the mountain, which was only a few minutes or so away at this point.

Nami led them, pressing Luffy's straw hat protectively against her head as she did, clutching the two halves of his vest in her other hand all the while. She wasn't scared, Zoro would hold it off until Luffy got over there, then he would take it out. Though there was something that was bugging her...

And Usopp proceeded to voice it. "How is that thing still alive!?" The sniper queried incredulously. Realizing what he had said though, quickly amended his question. "I mean, not alive since it's dead, bu-but...move. How can it still move after having it's skull crushed into nothing but dust!?" He had a point, that was for sure. "Is there any way to stop it!?" He questioned further, obviously not expecting an answer from anyone, but certainly hoping one of them would have one.

His hopes were dashed of course, as no one spoke up.

That was what had the navigator worried. No matter how many times they took it down, the thing got back up again. 'Even if Luffy could beat it a hundred times, what does it matter if it just keeps getting back up?' She wondered to herself.

Unable to help herself, after her group had reached the base of the mountain, she turned back to catch a glance of what was happening and if her childhood friends were okay.

Zoro was now on his way over, Wado once again sheathed, and Luffy was, as expected, locked in battle with the creature, whatever it really was.

"Get climbing! Luffy won't let that thing get away again, so this is our chance!" The swordsman informed her, the orange haired cartographer nodding her head in understanding.

Turning back to the others, she told them to be careful, and they began to climb. Thankfully there was a ledge they could grab onto, which was connected to a winding path that led almost to the peak of the rock made structure. Once they were all up on said path, Nami took the lead once more and Zoro took up the rear, so as to guard them.

At this point, it was more about getting somewhere safe so they could path up Usopp and Sanji than it was about finding the gold.

* * *

It was sunset, the ball of gas and fire sunken so low that it could barely be seen on the horizon, as Zoro ran after the others and Luffy confronted Ganzo for the last time.

"Enough hit and run crap, let's end this." Luffy told him straight up.

No response was given, as the skeleton charged the rubberman. He dodged of course, jumping out of the way, only for the undead being to keep going, obviously having no intentions on fighting him. He still wanted nothing more than to kill Nami and the others, take the map and find the gold.

"Not this time!" Luffy informed him, having thrown his arm out to catch him by the shoulder as he did, stretching it several inches in the process. It snapped back quickly, bringing the monster along for the the ride. And as it was reeled back toward him, Luffy let his grip slacken, letting the thing shirk out of his grasp. But it didn't matter at that point, as he was close enough for an attack and attack he did, slamming his right fist into the back of the skeleton and driving him to the ground, where he ground his knuckles into it's bones, cracking them to a great degree.

It felt no pain as this occurred, invulnerable in this form. Nevertheless, it was not happy. "YOU CAN'T STOP ME FROM TAKING WHAT IS MINE! NOBODY CAN!" Woonan-Ganzo exclaimed enraged, using it's one hand to push itself up and off the ground, the force behind the shove launching it several feet into the air and in turn causing the dark haired pirate to stumble back.

Regaining his footing, the pirate looked upwards to the rapidly descending bone construct. It had taken aim with it's blade and was now currently set to skewer him as it came down, but was denied as it's target rolled out of the way. This, of course, caused the undying form of bones to bury it's cutlass-hand to the hilt in the rocky ground. Not that it slowed it down, ripping it out a moment later and lunging toward the younger man, fixed on impaling him.

Once again it was denied however, as Luffy sidestepped it's advance before ramming his elbow into the side of it's skull, cracking it and causing it to rattle. The teen proceeded to follow that up by taking half a step toward his enemy and strike his solar plexus with a strong knee, sending more cracks through his build as a result. Not yet finished, he then put his hands together, brought them up and shot them down, hitting him in the back with a jackhammer and knocking him flat to the ground, fracturing even more of his's/it's bones.

Ganzo-Woonan was quick to recover, rolling away from his foe, slashing at his legs as he did. He only managed to knick his shins, but the point was it allowed him to put some distance between them. Having bought himself a moment, it lept to it's feet, before hurling itself forward one more time, attempting to run the rubber pirate through.

This tactic, if you could call it that, failed as his sword jab was sidestepped. But, not allowing the teen time to counterattack, the bone-made man spun himself, so as to hopefully catch his fellow combatant off guard and give him a good gash across the chest. For the countless time though, the undead being's plan failed, as his attack was backstepped.

He wouldn't allow his adversary to get away unscathed however, so at the last moment lifted his left leg for a kick, managing to catch the hatless straw hat by the side and knock him to the ground. Capitalizing on this, he jumped at him, blade at the ready. The stab of the sword was evaded of course, but the skeleton had anticipated this, having reached out with his only hand as he did and taken hold of the shirtless man by his right arm.

Grip tight as hell, he had no intention of letting go, turning to the young teen with his cutlass poised to strike. His opponent struggled, but nothing would get him to let go. Shooting his blade forward, he attempted to stab into his enemy's flesh, but failed to hit his mark as the devil fruit user stretched himself out and backwards, effectively getting away from the attack.

Yet, Woonan-Ganzo still had him, as his arm was still locked in his grasp. So he aimed to lop the arm off, and as the rubber boy sprung back to try and prevent the blade from meeting his skin, standing as he did, the skeletal individual switched targets and finally found purchase, as he sunk his cutlass deep into the flesh of his foe.

A pained gasp escaped Luffy's mouth, as the metal weapon went straight into his gut and back out again, the hilt smacking into his abdomen as blood dripped from the coated surface of the blade on the other side. The crimson liquid oozed from the wound, but was made even worse as the monster proceeded to tear it straight out of his enemy, exacerbating the injury in the process.

The now injured teen stumbled back, placing both hands over his wound as he began to exert pressure on it, so as to stop or even just slow the bleeding. As he did, he lost his balance and ended up falling to his knees, managing to catch himself there, so as to prevent himself from actually eating dirt, as he wouldn't go down so easily.

Nevertheless, the bone-made man seemed sure that was the end of it, as he attempted to pass by, to go on toward the others. "You can't stop me...nobody can! Not even the mighty Woonan could stop me now! THAT GOLD IS MINE!" The thing screeched shrilly.

As it attempted to dash away, it felt something tug at it and stop it in it's tracks. Looking back, it saw that it's fellow combatant had stretched and reached out and taken hold of it's wrist, leaving the teen with only one hand covering his stab wound. The undead man tried to shirk out of his grasp of course, but found he could do no such thing, as the punk just wouldn't let go.

Removing the hand he was using to slow the bleeding and retracting his stretched out arm back to it's original length, blood ran openly from Luffy's stomach as he got to his feet, said life substance beginning to soak into and stain his blue-jean shorts. Even still, he paid it little mind, as he lifted his hands and clenched them into fists, showing he was still raring to go. "I can stop you." He claimed suddenly. "I will stop you." He added, his eyes hardening as he did.

"No you will not! I won't allow you to! What don't you understand about that!? I WON'T LET ANYONE STOP ME FROM CLAIMING WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE!" It roared at Luffy.

"JUST WATCH ME!" Luffy roared back, pivoting forward toward his opponent as he did, before breaking into a sprint.

"Gum Gum Barrage!" The rubberman cried, throwing his right arm out toward his opponent as he did.

"Pistol!" His stretched out arm came at the skeleton, the hand curled into a fist, the owner going for a straight punch. Seeing as there was only so much power behind the attack, add in the fact that it was an obvious move, and it equals out to the fact that it wasn't hard to intercept it. And intercept it Ganzo-Woonan did, catching the fist with his single hand, locking it tight within his grip, rendering it useless.

Not that it stopped Luffy, who was still charging forward toward the build of bones, undeterred by the fact that his pistol had been caught. Shooting his left arm back, his fist sideways as he did, he stretched it out a good twenty feet, getting ready for his next attack. Just about to reach the skeletal individual, he let his appendage snap back to him, causing it to come careening toward the bag of bones, his fist aimed straight at his chest. "Bullet!" As he and his fist reached the thing, it lashed out with it's cutlass-hand, stabbing into the rubber pirate's left shoulder at the same time the fist slammed into it's chest and shattered several of it's ribs into pieces.

Wincing in pain, the young pirate captain wretched his arm out of his adversary's grasp and proceeded to jump back, causing the blade to leave his shoulder, the blood from his new wound streaming down his left arm as he prepared to launch his next attack. "Whip!" With a single movement combined with the use of his ability, stretching his leg out a few feet, he brought it racing toward his enemy, nailing him in the side with a bone fracturing kick.

The entity had attempted to catch the attack with his hand, but the force behind it had been greater than the pistol thrown before and had slammed into his hand and then slammed it into his side from the momentum. Nevertheless, it was still able to wrap it's fingers around the stretching man's ankle, keeping the young man's leg stretched out and in it's reach.

Using that to it's advantage, it tried to sever the appendage, but was stopped in it's tracks as a sandaled foot rammed into it's face. "Stamp!" The undead being's head snapped back, new fractures along it's skull as it eyed it's opponent, who's other leg had stretched out, so as to allow him to kick the undead man in the face, which he had. The dark haired pirate had also stretched his arms out and taken hold of it by the shoulders, Woonan-Ganzo noted.

Shirking his right leg out of the skeleton's grasp, the sixteen year old went on to wrap both legs around it, securing himself as he threw his head back and stretched out his neck, extending it by several feet as he did, all the while allowing his body to snap back toward his hands and feet. All this made it clear he was going for a headbutt, so the red eyed entity moved to use his cutlass and turn that momentum against the rubberman, to get him to impale himself, preferably his face, on the blade of the sword.

But said rubberman had been ready for that, as the thing's arms were locked down tight by the legs twisted around it's form. "Bell!" He shouted, as his neck returned to it's original length and his cranium rammed into his enemy's at high speed, making a loud thunk sound as new cracks formed and ran through the bone of said enemy's own cranium.

The force of this attack, which was more than usual with the way it had been performed, had the psychotic bone-man reeling. Luffy didn't allow him to fall back however, keeping him upright with the grip he had on his shoulders, as he unwrapped his legs from around the thing and used them to kick of the ground, sending him a dozen or so feet back, while still retaining his hold on the build of bone.

Once his feet were on the ground once more, he used them to kick the rocky surface again, only instead of using the force to propel him backward, he used it to cause his body, minus his arms, to flip back around itself. From there he continued to do this, winding himself up for several long moments. And when he felt that he had done enough, he kicked of the ground one last time, propelling him forward, as he let his body begin flipping back to where it was supposed to be, unwinding, causing him to revolve in a forward motion, all the while he snapped back toward his hands, toward his fellow combatant.

His body closed the distance in a matter of moments, it revolving until it had returned to it's normal state, and as it did, he threw his head forward and rammed it into the skeleton's skull, putting all the momentum he had garnered to good use. "Buzzsaw!" A loud crack echoed throughout the open almost desert-like area, the sound reverberating despite the lack of an actual echo, as the red eyed being's skull nearly split in two, a large crack ripping through it from the nose socket all the way back to where the skull met the spine. And then there was the countless new fractures developed along the rest of the surface from the attack, as well as the ones which had been inflicted previously. All in all, it was a mystery that the thing's skull hadn't fallen apart or shattered into pieces at this point.

The incredible force behind this attack, combined with the fact that the raven haired pirate let go of his foe's shoulders at the last moment, equaled out to the fact that the fleshless lifeform, if you could call it that, was knocked off it's feet. It would have gone flying, if the said lifeform hadn't grabbed ahold of the teen's shoulder at the last second that is. So, it ended up falling to the ground a moment later as gravity asserted itself.

That worked out just fine for said teen though, as he took advantage of the position that put the bag of bones in. Doing so by kicking his right leg up before it reached the ground, slamming his foot into where the thing's ribs once were, the foot hitting it's spine at this point, and shooting it upward at great velocity, stretching it to do so, taking the structure of bones along for the ride. "Volcano!"

He stretched his leg upward a good fourty to fifty feet, before stopping and allowing it to snap back, while the skeletal frame it had taken up with it continued upward another few feet. It would come plummeting down again in a matter of moments, so now was the time to perform a follow up attack. And with his gum gum barrage complete, he was free to do so.

Moving toward the mountain, he broke into a strong run. As he reached the base of it though, he didn't stop. On the contrary, he kept going, sped up in fact, beginning to scale the surface of the hundred foot rock formation as he did. In his dead run, he ascended around thirty five feet, before looking toward his target and kicking off the mountain, leaping off of it and toward his falling foe.

Ganzo quickly took notice of this, beginning to maneuver his lightweight form to meet his the aggressor head on. "I said I won't let you stop me from taking what is mine...AND I MEANT IT!" With that he lunged forward as best he could mid-air, and the two collided head on, their bodies slamming into each other.

The two met head on, their heads thunking against each other as they grappled one and other. Hand of flesh met hand of bone, and the other hand met the wrist-grip of the cutlass, so as to prevent it from being used. Both using all their might, they wrestled one and other mid-air, attempting to gain the advantage as they shifted and struggled in the wind, continuously trying to either throw the other into the mountain or toward the ground, or lock their foe in a hold of some kind.

Neither was able to gain any ground for several moments, that is until they finally began to descend. Once they did, the momentum shifted and Ganzo was able to free his sword-hand from his opponent's grasp, granting him a single second of opportunity. And he seized it.

Thrusting his cutlass tipped limb forward, he plunged it into Luffy's chest, the blade sliding through him like a knife through butter. The rubberman, unable to stop it at this distance, was able to grab hold of the arm that it was attached to, but was not fast enough to fully stop the forward motion. Nevertheless, as a small cry of pain fell from his lips, he refused to let go of the bone arm, tightening his grip to where there was only one way his hand was coming loose.

Yet still, the undead entity began to punch and kick him, to get him to let go, so that only one of them would fall to the ground. It didn't work of course, and as they came ever closer to the time of impact, it was quickly becoming clear that there wasn't a damn thing it could do about it.

That is until the teenage pirate gave an audible grunt of effort, and proceeded to break the skeleton's cutlass melded arm off, the bone snapping and cracking at the shoulder as it was torn off his build. It was a great inconvenience, but it did give him further opportunity. Taking it, he forced the hatless straw hat to let go of his bone hand, then slammed both of his bone-soles into his wounded torso, kicking him down and himself off of him, regaining upward momentum in doing so and sending himself straight up further into the air.

As Luffy was dislodged, now hurtling toward the ground even faster, he took hold of the arm of bones with both hands and went on to yank it away from him, pulling the blade out of his flesh in doing so. Throwing it aside, not caring about all the blood that was flowing across his torso, he focused on his fellow combatant, who was now sixty or so feet in the air. While he himself was less than fifteen, barely moments away from hitting the ground, not that it mattered since he was made of rubber.

Even still, he threw his arms upward, stretching them as far as needed, and latched onto the bone-made man's ankles with his hands, wrapping his fingers around so he couldn't be dislodged this time. Then, just before he could touch the ground, he snapped upward toward his hands, causing his body to go rocketing skyward.

By the time the red eyed individual noticed his adversary had ahold of him, he had only a moment before impact would occur between their bodies. So as to try and avoid it, he threw himself back, but it was proved to be futile, as the rubber boy's grip allowed him to home in on his target, and in the end, his back now pointed toward the ground, he had just made himself a bigger target.

"Gum Gum Rocket!" The collision was head first on the sixteen year old's part, his cranium slamming up into the bag of bones spine, nearly severing it from the force of impact. Speaking of force, the force of the attack knocked Ganzo-Woonan further upward, taking his rubber enemy along in the process, as he still had ahold of his ankles.

The two were now over a hundred feet in the air, roughly twenty feet above the peak of the mountain, as they were suspended over it as gravity failed to assert itself. It was only a matter of time however, though one of them in particular didn't have to wait.

That was the skeleton monster, who was spun and revolved around in a forward motion as the rubberman flipped forward over and over again, his grip still locked down on the bone construct's ankles. All this motion quickly came to an end, as with one last forward flip, the raven haired pirate let go of the undying man's ankles, tossing him downward toward the peak of the towering rock structure.

As his adversary hurtled down toward the summit of the mountain, Luffy prepared to deliver one final blow. Kicking his right leg at an awkward angle, he began to twist it around itself, his rubber body allowing him to wind it around to the point where it looked akin to a corkscrew. From there, he let gravity do it's thing, as he began to come down at the creature he had been combating.

Quick to recover, Ganzo brought his momentum to a halt just before he could make contact with the peak of the mountain, doing so in a way that his body faced upward toward his opposition. Defying gravity for a minute, he retained that position as he wailed at the top of his nonexistent lungs. "I WILL NOT BE DENIED! NOT THIS TIME! I REFUSE TO BE DEFEATED BY ANYONE! THIS IS MY TIME! YOU HEAR ME!? IT'S TIME THAT I FINALLY GET WHAT I AM OWED! WHAT I DESERVE!"

"The only thing you deserve is defeat!" Luffy hollered back, as he forced all his mass downward, increasing his already rapid descent even further, allowing him to slam his twisted up right leg into the epicenter of Ganzo's skeletal form. "GUM GUM DRILL!" As the rubber teen's leg rammed into the skeleton, and rammed it into the peak of the mountain, his leg began to rapidly unwind, drilling his foot into the undead man's form at an ever increasing velocity.

As a result of this, the force began to drive Ganzo down into the mountain, breaking the peak into rubble and onward, the two breaking and crashing through level after level of the rock made construct until there was no footing for them left and they crashed down into a certain level where a room-like space resided, where they once again broke through the floor and proceeded to crash hard to the rock floor of a certain den-like area below it.

The result of this had Luffy lying on the floor away from Ganzo, a bunch of dirt and dust obscuring the entire area and his vision. Nevertheless, the hatless strawhat got to his feet and let his eyes wander the location, until they caught sight of Ganzo...or rather what was left of him.

Stepping towards him, the teen could see that he was nothing but a pile of severely fractured bones, some broken into little pieces. No part of him was held together anymore, his skull was in four parts, his legs were dislocated from his hips, his feet the same for his legs, one arm wasn't even present and the other was in ten pieces. Then there was his spine, which had cracks running all along it, not to mention the fact that it was broken into thirds, and his ribs...well dust was all that was left of the ones that had still been attached to him before that last attack.

All in all, he was honestly nothing more than a mess of decaying bones at this point. This fight was over as far as Luffy was concerned, whether he managed to pull himself back together or not. After all, defeat couldn't be more obvious than this.

**Luffy vs Ganzo**

**Winner: Luffy**

* * *

"Tight, too tight!" Usopp gasped out, fighting for breath as he did.

"Oh stop being such a baby!" Nami chastised, as she made sure the half of Luffy's vest she had dressed his wound with wouldn't come off if the sniper moved around too much. "There, that should do until we get back to the ship." She told him.

Finally managing to get in a large lungful of air, the marksman gasped as his breathing began to regulate. "Oh man, I thought I was going to die for a moment there."

"Stop being such a hypochondriac and be glad that such a beautiful woman deigned to help you at all." Sanji admonished.

"Shut up! She ties it too tight and you know it! I mean look at you, you look like you're struggling with it too!" Usopp shot.

And he was right, as the blonde, who had the worst wound he had sustained bandaged with the other half of Luffy's vest, seem to struggle for air, though he did so subtly. "That doesn't matter. What does is that such a vision of perfection-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now let's find that gold guys!" Nami exclaimed excitedly.

"Ah! She has berri signs for eyes again!" Usopp shouted in distress.

"Right away Nami dear!" Sanji replied, his heart eyes coming out as he did.

"Would you two stop it with the eyes already!?" The long nosed sniper queried incredulously.

"Yeah, like those two will ever stop being annoying." Zoro remarked gruffly, only to have Nami and Sanji get in his face and start shouting at him.

As those three engaged in a shouting match, Maxi and Tobio sweatdropped. "So...are they always like this?" The brown haired man questioned his nephew.

"Well...not always. But most of the time, yeah." The nine year old answered.

"Huh." Was his uncle's only response.

The six had traveled the winding road up the mountain until they reached a cave near the top, which they were in right now. After having arrived, Nami had set to dressing Usopp's wound and Sanji's worst wound. Now that that was done, they intended to find the gold, and hopefully a note explaining what this was all about. First the arguing had to stop though.

"Look, we should-"Maxi began, only to be cut off as Nami growled irritably, then took hold of Zoro and Sanji and hauled them behind her, barking at Usopp to follow as she did.

Not wanting to receive the same treatment, the uncle and nephew quickly followed along as well.

From there the six explored the cave until the found a way further down, to a passageway leading to different caverns. They searched most of these caverns until coming to the final one, only it, just like the others, held nothing of value or interest. Just rocks upon rocks and more rocks. There were also some stalagmites and stalactites, but still, just rock.

"But...but there has to be something, right? Then why can't we find it?" Tobio inquired to no one in particular, as a sinking feeling began to set in his gut.

"Just give me a minute. I'll try and figure this out." Nami told the boy, bringing the map close to examine it once more. She was perplexed as well, 'Just where is the gold? Was there really any to begin with?'

She examined it for several moments before returning her hands to her side, shaking her head as she did. "There aren't any further instructions." She informed them, frowning as she did.

Silence reigned in the cavern among the six for a dozen or so moments, until Usopp opened his mouth to finally break it. Only before he could utter a syllable, the sound of a loud crash was heard, and everyone looked upward, as that was where they had heard it come from. "What was that?" Maxi wondered aloud.

The stalactites began to shake then, looking ready to come down, as the noise continued and grew louder and closer. Eyes widening, they all prepared to leap out of the way, but just before anyone could shout to do so or actually do so, the ceiling caved in on them, something breaking through down into the cavern. Everyone was knocked to the floor, but had no chance to try and get up, as the floor beneath them quickly caved in as well, dragging them down a level further, into a den-like cavern with stone walls and floor.

Anymore than that was obscured form vision from all the dirt and dust that was kicked up because of all the mountain destruction that had taken place. Said dirt and dust also caused several of them to engage in coughing fits, as they got to their feet.

"Is everyone alright?" Zoro questioned between coughs.

Confirmation that they were okay came from the other five, and as the smoke and dust cleared, they found they were pretty close to each other.

"What just happened?' Usopp asked the others.

"No idea." Maxi replied.

"Beats me." Sanji responded.

"I have a pretty good idea." Nami told them, looking to Zoro as she did, who nodded his head in agreement.

"What?" Usopp questioned.

"It was Luffy." Nami and Zoro answered in unison.

"Uh, g-guys...loo-look." Tobio spoke shakily then, getting everyone else's attention as he did.

Shifting their gazes, they saw Luffy, wounded and bloody, crimson streaks down the side of his head on both sides, while it streamed from his torso wounds and trickled from his hands as well as slowly draining from his shoulder. He stood over a pile of bones, as said bones began to shift and sift through each other, slowly trying to reform as they did.

"I-I wo-won't b-be beat-beaten, I-I-I can-can't be. I wai-waited so lon-long for my time to sh-shine, and it sti-still ended up a-all for noth-nothing. Wh-why? Why? WHY!?" Ganzo squealed angrily and sorrowfully. If skeletons could cry, he would be doing so at this point. "

"I-I just wanted some-something of my own. He got every-everything. Fame, power, women, respect, even the gold. It was all his. I wan-want to kno-know why, why coul-couldn't I have anything. I admit...I admit it. I was jealous of him, I was jealous of my captain, of my best friend. I wanted all that he had. No body had to ge-get hurt." As the skeletal entity continued to speak, he finally began to resemble his original form, as his bones pushed together and began locking in place. doing so ever so slowly. Even still, all the fractures failed to heal.

"I was th-the first mate, woul-wouldn't it make sen-sense for me to have at least a sliver of the fame, power, respect and riches he possessed? I deserved at least a little bit of all that, did-didn't I? So...so why, why did this all have to happen!? Why couldn't I just have what I was owed and be done with it!? Why did he get to have everything I wanted!?"

No one spoke as the undead man lamented his fate, simply watching him silently as he tried to put himself back together again. It was a slow and arduous process that failed more often than not, yet still he persisted, beginning to take his original structure as he did.

That was when the skeleton-man looked toward the others, his eyes locking on Maxi and Tobio specifically. "You two...don't...don't you look at me. My family shouldn't see me this way!" He cried in distress.

"Father..."

"Granddad..."

That was when he, along with everyone else, noticed the other aspects of this man-made room in the mountain. The stone walls had writing carved into every inch of them, forming a single long passage, and then there was a stone throne-like chair located in the center of the room, where another skeleton lie, wearing the same exact clothes Ganzo did. Only this one was far less animated, slumped over in that stone seat.

"Woo-Woonan?" The talking skeleton spoke that name hesitantly and disbelievingly.

"What is this place?" Usopp wondered aloud, looking about as he did.

"Some kind of tomb?" Zoro offered.

"That's certainly what it looks like." Sanji admitted.

Meanwhile, Nami was eyeing the characters that made up the longwinded passage, Luffy's eyes were glued to his downed adversary, and said adversary and his two relatives had their eyes locked onto the bones of the clearly deceased Woonan.

"Guys, you should see this." Nami told the others, getting their attention on the writing all over the walls.

"What does it say?" Several of them queried.

"It's a bit hard to make out, but I believe it's some kind of message from...Woonan." She informed them, sounding a little grave as she did.

"Read it, please!" Tobio practically begged.

So, she did. "To the people who came here for the gold-my name is Woonan. Formerly known as 'The Great Gold Pirate'. But now I am just a man waiting to die. All the gold I've gathered over the years is buried at the very bottom of this mountain, several levels below me. But please, read all that I have written before you rush off to claim it." Nami stopped there for a moment, daring to glance back, only to see no one, not even Ganzo, had moved an inch.

Since that was the case, she continued to read the passage aloud. "The riches I attained, the fortune I gathered, it was all simply a part of my childhood dream, to amass a pile of gold the likes the world has never seen. But as I sit before it now, slowly fading from this world, all I feel is emptiness. The thing I devoted my entire life to was gold, or at least that's what I would have said if I'd been asked before today. The truth is, the adventure to claim the gold, that's what I was truly living for, I just never realized it. Because of that, every time I got my hands on more of this shiny thing everyone seems to desire, I was left unfulfilled. And every time I would think to myself, 'It's not enough, I must get my hands on more.' Only that wasn't it. The reason I always felt hollow when I claimed my newest sum of gold, was that getting there, fighting everyone who got in my way with my crew by my side, that's what truly made me happy. Not the booty that lie at the end, but the adventure that led to it, that's what really made my heart race. My friends and the voyages we went on, those were what life was about, I just wish I would have realized it sooner."

Nami paused then, as she read the next few lines silently. Casting a apologetic glance toward Tobio, the cartographer continued to read the inscription. "It really is a shame that it took until now, sitting here, dying as poison eats away at me, to understand that. To make matters worse, it was one of my own crew who did this to me, sticking me from behind with a poison laced dagger. My very own first mate, Ganzo, my closest friend and confident. We've known each other since we were children, and he stabbed me in the back. And for what? Some stupid, useless gold. He wanted it all for himself. Even still, I cannot bring myself to blame him. I've seen many a men and women, both good and evil do anything for money. Mothers selling their children, father's whoring out their daughters, brothers selling out one and other, sisters abandoning each other. Money, gold more specifically, will drive a person insane with greed. And in turn will lead them to do absolutely anything to get their hands on it."

The young navigator came to a halt, as the sound of Tobio sobbing from behind her could be heard. Frowning, she picked back up where she left off, as no one made any attempt to stop her from continuing. "So you see...gold isn't the treasure here. It is nothing more than a curse. The real treasure, one that is infinitely more valuable than any gold could ever be, is the bond one shares with their friends. So embrace that bond before it is too late, and you end up like Ganzo and I, willing to kill the one closest to you simply for a hunk of pretty metal."

Stopping one last time, her frown deepening, she awaited anyone to say anything. When no one did, she finished the passage. "Now that you know my tale, I implore you, leave the gold where it lie. No matter who you are, surely you can understand the evil this useless junk brings about. Just leave it buried, hidden away from the world, so that no friends will ever be torn apart by the greed it induces ever again. Please, I beg of you, don't let anyone meet the same fate as Ganzo and I did. As I die here, all I can do is lament the fact that I can never see my best friend again and let him know that he is forgiven, and that I love him like a brother. I don't care that he's the one who did this to me...he's my best friend, I want him by my side. I do not wish such emotional and psychological agony on anyone. Please, heed my dying wish."

"I-it...it stops there." Nami informed the others.

A dead silence descended upon all of them then, the only sound being Tobio's sobbing. That is, until the sound of sobbing was heard from another source.

Everyone turned toward the second source, to see actual tears spilling out of Ganzo's eyes sockets. "Woonan...my friend...forgive me for being so foolish." His bones rattled, his form fully complete at this point, as sobs rocked his build. Still, he made no move to stand. "I'm so very sorry...I can't believe all that I've done for such a thing as bars of gold...I'm so pathetic. I had always been jealous of you, everything you had, I had always wanted. I felt like I deserved it all, if not more than you did, than at least as much as you did. Now I realize, I deserve nothing. You have always been the better man, I realize that now. Thank you, for being such a good friend to a wretch such as I."

Suddenly, Ganzo's form shifted to that of human, the one he held when he was alive, before fading out of existence entirely, not leaving even a tidbit of evidence that he had ever even been there in the first place. And as he parted from this realm of existence, he bid farewell to Tobio and Maxi. "My kin...know that you can at least be proud of the fact that I followed a great man, since there is no reason to be proud of such a fool of a man that I am...I was."

And with that, he was gone. Leaving the seven in Woonan's tomb, speechless and unsure of everything that had occurred.

* * *

The day after...

The crew was gathered at the table, as Sanji served breakfast. They had set sail minutes ago and were now following their original course, that they had been following before all of the drama with Tobio happened. They had said their goodbyes and wished the boy well, as he had found what was left of his family, even if it wasn't the one he had set out to find, it was certainly better than nothing. Besides, he was happy and that was what mattered after all. And on top of that, he wouldn't have to go back to living in poverty, as traveling with his uncle he would have more than enough to eat and the money they made would be more than enough to take care of the two of them.

Even still, that whole adventure had left a bad aftertaste in the mouths of the crew. Nami understood such corrupting greed, she also, the rest of the crew as well, understood such profound loss. And yet, as they sat at the table, now properly bandaged and waiting to eat, things returned to normal fairly quickly.

"Whatcha doin?" Luffy questioned his girlfriend, leaning over to look at the fancy looking black leather book she was writing in.

"Starting on our crew's logbook. I've got a bunch of stuff to get down before we enter the Grand Line, including the events I wasn't there for. Which is why I could use your help."

As the two talked about Luffy's departure from Fusha, Zoro, Usopp and Sanji bickered as the blonde cooked.

"I'm telling you, it had to have been a curse! How else could a walking and talking skeleton go wandering about killing people and screaming about gold!?" Usopp asserted.

"Come on, a cursed island, really?" Sanji inquired skeptically.

"How else would you explain that crazy skeleton we saw huh!?"

As the chef seemed to think that over, Zoro interjected with, "Who cares?"

"I care!" The sniper insisted. "I want to know the reason I got impaled by a freaking skeleton dammit!"

The swordsman snorted at that. "Yeah, as if that wasn't self explanatory. You weren't fast enough to dodge, simple as that."

"He's got a point there." Sanji admitted.

"You assholes! Don't you even care how badly hurt I am!?" The marksman shouted indignantly.

"You've got no room to talk blondie, you got cut up even worse than he did." The green haired teen pointed out.

"I was defending the beautiful Nami! I couldn't let him get past me, I had to take his attacks!" The cook argued.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Zoro responded with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh you're one to talk, Mr. I got my swords cut in half and taken down with one blow like a chump!"

"What'd you just say!?"

"You heard me!"

As Zoro and Sanji snarled at each other, Usopp fretted over all that had happened and the fact that no one seemed to care, and Luffy and Nami wrote the log together, the less educated of them just relaying what had occurred before they met up, things really did seem to go back to normal. And really, it was no surprise. After all, no one could keep the Straw Hats down.

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**


	30. Side Story: Buggy's Big Adventure

avatoa: I in turn shall say three things to you.

First, thank you very much!

Second, while I won't go into specifics, I can tell you that when they meet Brook their previous experiences with walking-talking skeletons will certainly have an impact. How big of an impact? I'm undecided for now.

Third, since it seems you don't know this, I held a poll a while back in which I asked my readers which movies they would like to see me do. In that poll I gave the choices for the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and seventh movies, as well as none at all and all of them. I had always intended to do movies six, ten and twelve from the very beginning, I've stated this previously, and as of now I intend to do thirteen as well, so I didn't place them in the poll. I also stated I wouldn't be doing movies eight and nine, since their just rehashs of two arcs, and movie eleven, seeing as it's just a short thing about getting Luffy's hat back. In other words, it was up to the readers to decide. The poll results were that, of the people who voted, the majority wanted to see me do all of the movies I listed, so I am doing so. So no, I am most definitely doing movie six. Sorry. :(

DarkPirateKing69: There was no true reason given, seeing as no one truly knew what caused it. Which is why Usopp, at the end of the movie/chapter, chalked it up to being some kind of curse. What it really was? A curse, simple as that. No devil fruit, no sinister world government involvement, just a restless spirit. It is, admittedly, a very uncomplicated and simplistic reason, but strange things happen in One Piece a lot. Even more so if you take filler into account, which I know most people don't but I don't care. I thought of it as a much more interesting take on the movie, so I went with it. I apologize if it wasn't to your taste.

As to why I didn't try and give a whole explanation about it or why I didn't go for something more intricate, two reasons. The first, I didn't see much of a need for it honestly, as overall it's not too important to the story, besides the character development that took place anyway. And second...well, I'm not gonna lie to you, I really didn't want to spend more time than I needed to on the movie.

I'm glad you didn't find the movie-chapter boring at least. As to whether you enjoyed it or not, from your review I can't tell. I hope you did though. And on the subject of the sixth movie, oh I have had plans for that since chapter one. So...yeah, ain't nothing gonna stop me from doing that one. XD

deant33: I disagree. A lot of people would disagree with that statement. Most of my readers from this story and the other one I am currently working on would disagree. Ten thousand words is nowhere near the limit of how long a chapter should be. A lot of my chapters from here on out are going to easily pass ten thousand, at least any with fights and several that have important events. In fact, I make a rule to never put out a chapter, for this story anyway, that isn't at least five thousand words. On another story it's at least seven thousand before being posted. Each of my stories has a minimum word count, and as for a maximum word count...well, it has to be a lot of words before I break something up I don't want to break up. Regardless, ten thousand words being the limit? No, just no.

Now with that said, would my readers agree that the movie-chapter was too long? Possibly. Certainly some of them at least. But that ten thousand word thing, I honestly can't fathom how you could believe that. Some of the best stories on this site, at least the longer ones, have chapters that regularly pass the 10k mark. The best one shots I've ever read, there aren't many I consider to be in this category, are over ten thousand words as well.

As to why I made the movie-chapter so long, well, I hadn't actually intended to make it that long. And as to why I didn't break it up into parts, well it's supposed to be movie, even if it is in written form, so it's kinda supposed to be somewhat long.

Okay, okay, I'm gonna stop now before I go on a tirade. Anyway, thank you for your input, I appreciate it, truly I do. However, know that it it's not going to happen, like at all. Sorry my friend. Also, I hope you continue to read in spite of the fact that you don't like the length of some of my chapters, I really do.

F-ckthesystem125: Thank you. I know right? Would have made it much cooler. You shouldn't, there was no skeleton and certainly no skeleton stuff in the original movie. I'll do my best.

Blue VanLocke: If that's how you feel, that's how you feel, I can't do much about it. I'm genuinely sorry you found it boring though. You say the base material sucks, am I to assume you mean the original movie sucked? If so, I agree, but the original movie is not what I wrote, so I didn't have the base material in there, not exactly anyway. If you just mean my writing sucks, well...that hurts a bit, but everyone has their opinion and I respect that.

As for my romanization...well I'm not sure what you mean. Seeing as you don't have the best grammar and that we humans sometimes misspell things, I'm quite guilty of it unfortunately, especially forgetting letters, it's possible the word you're looking for is romaticization. If it is, then I disagree. I think the way I write the romantic aspect of this story is fairly good, if not, then at least adequate. It's most likely adequate unfortunately, but I can hope dammit!

Anyway, in case you actually meant to type romanization...then, well...I'm unsure how to respond. Why? Because romanization is to convert one form of writing to another, typically Latin. So if that's what you mean then I have no clue how to respond. I mean I suppose you could be saying that my translation of it from it's original form, a movie, to this written form, my self dubbed movie-chapter, could never be good since the movie itself wasn't good, but I'm not sure. If that is what you're trying to say, then again, it's pretty different from the original, so that kind of renders such a point invalid.

Moving on. What do I think about changes? What do you mean by that? Chopper having ten points and it not being explained? Oh wait, I get it now. No, Chopper having ten points and it going unexplained is not the kind of change I'll be doing, nor will I be doing any changes like that. I plan on making drastic changes, but I also plan on doing small ones as well. A whole bunch of'em. You've seen a lot of these small changes. Notice how the impact of them is slowly growing? Yeah, that's how this story works. The changes become larger as the story goes on, as do the ripples of these changes.

Does that mean that by the time they reach Sabaody things will be wildly and completely different? Not quite. Also, in an effort to prevent any future backlash, small changes will be throughout the whole story guys, so halfway through you'll be seeing major differences and small ones. In other words, yes things will still be similar at points. Not counting original arcs, those will be completely new since they'll come from my noggin.

Back on topic, your final statement, "You should order that kind of things.", makes absolutely no sense. Actually, your entire review is...well, kinda off. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume English isn't your first language, in which case I've seen worse written reviews, which would also explain why your review is strangely worded. Anyway, I kind of sense an attitude behind your words. And I don't appreciate it. Leave it at the door next time you want to review if you don't mind. In case you weren't trying to come off like that, I apologize.

Finally, thank you for taking time to review. I appreciate it, even if I don't appreciate the contents of it. Have a nice day. :)

Lightningblade49: I suppose he should. Since I watch the dub though...ah forget it, no need to go into that mess.

Zaralann: I merged an ova and a movie? What are you talking about? I did-wait, you're talking about that one with the Joke character right? Yeah, I have no idea who that guy is, when that special takes place, what the story of it entails or anything about it at all really. In fact, I didn't even know Joke existed until about halfway or so through writing the movie-chapter. So no, I did not merge them. If you want to see it that way though, be my guest. Don't bother me any.

Tonlor: Thank you. The movie isn't anything like this, so if you do watch it, even if you love the sub, odds are you might not like it. I mean that movie seriously sucked. I kid you not, I've seen fillers better than that movie. Although I guess you could say I'm biased, as I actually like filler. Not all of it mind you, but some of it I do like. Anyway, glad you liked the LuNa, I had hoped everyone who enjoyed that part of the story would.

Lobisomen616: Damn, glad I could cause a reaction such as yours. Thank you for letting me know of it.

Jaesom: You guys never have to thank me for updating, I don't expect nor do I really want you to. I'm not some super amazing professional author who has the whole world captivated by his books or anything, so no thanks are needed for updates. I would appreciate if no one gave me a hard time for not updating though. Like really appreciate it in fact. Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, and I too hope you continue to read more chapters in the future. No negative comments? Like none at all? Cool.

Oh, if you do go and watch the movies and ovas, I know nothing about the latter, know that the first movie is nothing like what I wrote. Again, you don't have to thank me for an update. Get excited, tell me how much you enjoyed the new chapter, give me constructive criticism, you can do any of those, I want you to in fact, but don't thank me for an update. It's not deserved.

Well I'm happy to have your support then, thank you. :) And I'll do my best.

Dissenter: Why thank you very much! I think so too, glad you and I think alike on the matter. As for character development, more went into the movie-chapter than I thought was going to, but it worked out for the best, at least in my opinion. As for Luffy not being a naive teenager, well I wouldn't say that. He's still not the sharpest tool in the shed and is most definitely still naive, he just now has zero tolerance for attacks on his family. I'm not saying he'll kill everyone who so much as inflicts an injury on one of them of course, but he absolutely will not allow people like Arlong to live, not after what they've done. There is now a very clear line drawn, and anyone who crosses it ain't got a chance in hell of making it out alive, at least not if Luffy has anything to say about it.

Gold you say? Might that perhaps be a pun? :P

To answer your questions on movies, as I stated above, I held a poll to decide which movies I would do. When I created that poll I made it clear that I will be doing movies six, ten and twelve, thirteen as well at this point, no matter what. Why? Because I had plans for them from the beginning, discounting thirteen of course. It looks awesome though so I definitely want to do it. Anyhow, the result of the poll was that I would do the rest of the movies as well, with the exception of eight, nine and eleven, as two are rehashes of arcs, and the other one is a thirty minute search for Luffy's hat.

On the subject of second gear and third gear, well I haven't made a decision regarding the latter, but I already have something in mind for the former. All I will tell you on the subject is that, no, he will not use it during the third movie. And I will do my best to make it interesting.

Lastly, as to the length of this story, it will end once all the Strawhats have achieved their dreams. In other words, it's going to be a very, very, very long story. Ongoing project? Would you mind clarifying what you mean? Because, since it's not finished and all, I kind of figured it qualified as an ongoing project.

SwordOfTheGods: You don't remember it because it isn't an arc, it's a movie, the first one more specifically. Glad you enjoyed it and I will.

TheGodfather93: Oh you got that right. Counting that movie-chapter, I've only written one other chapter with over fourty thousand words of content. It was for one of my other stories in case you're wondering. Thank you, and as for it being a short length of time, it's shorter than you think. To you guys it took me roughly two months, but for me it was only a month, as I was completely unable to write for a month. As for it being impressive, well I don't know about that. I definitely appreciate you saying it though, so thank you.

I can't say I relate, as I read huge chapters in a single sitting no problem, that's probably because I'm a couch potato though. But I understand where you're coming from. In fact I would have actually split it up, if it hadn't been a movie. A movie is much longer than an episode, therefor I believe a movie-chapter should be the same. So all of my movie-chapters will be lengthy. The only reason I would have a regular chapter that long is if I feel it doesn't work split up into parts, take the Arlong battle chapter for example.

Why did I change so much around? Well... to start, yes it fits the tone of my story better, but it's more than that. You see, before writing the movie-chapter I watched the movie to know what I would be writing about and start coming up with the changes I wanted to occur. By the time it was over though, I was unable to keep the frown from my face, as it had just been so disappointing. It was, to me anyway, boring. And One Piece is anything but boring. So, I decided it was time to really do things differently. So I came up with Ganzo being Woonan's first mate, the curse, the skeleton, the whole thing.

You know what though? One of the biggest reasons for it was rather mundane. You know how Zoro hadn't had his swords broken? Well I needed them broken before Logue Town, but with him being stronger and all there wasn't anyone in the East Blue besides Luffy, Smoker and Sanji who could do so. Therefor I needed a villain strong enough to accomplish such a task, which is part of what caused me to conjure up Ganzo-Woonan-Skeleton man. Ridiculous right?

I'm elated that you feel that way. Brutal? I didn't think they were particularly brutal, with the exception of what Ganzo-Woonan did to Golass, Samson and those other guys. If everyone else did, then damn man, you guys might not be able to handle some of the stuff I have planned for later. Movie six being one of the things that first comes to mind when I say this. As for being surprised by Luffy and Sanji walking their wounds off, have you seen the kind of shit those two went through? They can handle it, Luffy especially. Usopp though, well he is a bit tougher than before, not much mind you, but a bit thanks to Luffy's influence. Plus, he took a four ton bat to the face and lived, I think he can handle being stabbed in the abdomen, you know what I'm saying?

Thank you, and I'm overjoyed that you are. As to how I'm going to handle movie six, well...you'll see. Mwahahahahahahahaha! Like my evil laugh? I stole it from Usopp. XD

HP-DG-SB: Glad you think so. I'll tell you this, my version of the first movie is much different from the original, so if you ever decide to go watch it, don't expect much to be the same. It's great you feel that way. I'm happy you're looking forward to it.

gorilla_fingers Inkaster: Goddamn. You've just given me, quite easily, the longest review I've ever received. I can't put into words how grateful I am for that, especially so considering the contents of your review. No kidding, this is probably my favorite review ever. Much obliged.

Your theory is relatively sound, as I've seen a good deal of evidence for it in the One Piece section alone. I'm wondering why I never made the same connection, as it just makes so much sense. I'm simply overjoyed that you like my story and count it among the good ones on this site. Though that might mean more to me than others, since I'm pretty picky about what a good story is. Not saying I have high standards, I just have complicated ones is all.

You have a very good point, and I agree, such stories, if not written properly, can ruin the experience entirely. Which in turn completely turns people off of their story. I'm glad you feel like my story has successfully avoided these trappings that come with similar fics and that you think my writing is good. Thank you.

You're right, powering up the main characters definitely has that effect. I've seen it a hundred times over. And I am elated that you see how I tried to up the stakes in other ways, so as to compensate for the power boost Luffy, Zoro and, to a lesser degree, Sanji received.

As to emotional stakes as a whole, I agree with most of what you put down and don't have much else to say on the subject. Though what little I do have to say is that the whole family and emotional investment situation is exactly why I started from when they were children, so that the bonds could be built sooner and strengthened much further. I wanted Luffy to have his bond with Zoro and Nami to be just as strong, if not stronger, than his bond with Ace. From your input, I do believe I've achieved, at least partially, the effect I wanted to attain from doing such a thing.

In this sense, it's completely true that Luffy doesn't have as deep a bond with Usopp and Sanji. However, meeting them when he did when he was alone once more, and the time they spent together before officially becoming pirates definitely changed his feelings about them compared to canon. They are a part of his family, no question. The time they've spent living together since becoming pirates and the incidents with their recruitment and the Arlong debacle, all of it cemented this. Also, just because they don't share as deep of a bond doesn't mean they won't ever, as fondness grows over time. In fact, there is one particular sign to look for that will all but scream the fact that other members of the crew are close to the same level, as Nami and Zoro will always hold a special place in the teen's heart, of closeness that the three childhood friends share. As to what this sign is, well...you'll recognize it when you see it.

In turn, all of this means his crew is family. Meaning anyone who joins the crew signs up to eventually join the family, in a sense anyway. Ergo, recruitment has suddenly become more complicated. That's not to say he has to know them as long as the others before wanting them to join or has to feel as strongly for them. Rather it just means he needs a deeper connection with them than simply, "You're cool. Join my crew."

Negative time. Yes, I understand things lining up like that is rather convenient and even a bit lazy, for that I apologize. Though even if I went back I would do the exact same, as I wanted them that way. Except for Alvida. The encounter with Alvida, now I wish I had done that differently. In fact, your thoughts concerning it make me want to do it over again even more. I shall refrain though.

You know what, you've got a point. I did kind of forget about the chart. Hmm...you know what, I'm gonna take care of that. Just you watch. That said, I don't know about the manga, but the anime remembered the chart. In the episode they went up reverse mountain, when they were approaching it more specifically, Zoro remarked about ships not being able to go up mountains and Nami responded by telling him to look at the map for himself. He then insinuates that they can't trust the map, considering it was stolen from Buggy and all. So the anime actually remembered the chart...though it's never mentioned again after that episode.

To end my possibly longest authors note ever, for this story at least, regarding review responses anyway, thank you ever so very much for all your kind words and your criticism. I enjoyed reading your review and it honestly made my day when I first got to see it. While it might be doubtful, I do so hope to hear from you again in the future. :)

Wait, actually, there's still one more person I need to respond too.

ArrestoMomentum: A new reader! I am delighted to make your acquaintance! :) That said, onto your review of the first movie-chapter. I'm happy you enjoyed it, and as for Luffy ever getting some muscle, well yeah, of course. Just like in the anime he will develop muscle over time. It just takes him longer because of his devil fruit and having eaten it at such a young age, or at least that's my personal theory. And in that same line of thinking, it just goes to show just how freaking strong he is, what with putting on muscle while being made of rubber and all.

Now I'm about to get off track before the chapter starts, but I've been wondering this for awhile now. How many of you guys actually love/like/enjoy the LuNa aspect of this story? And how many of you are fine with it, indifferent to it or tolerate it simply because you like the story so much? I assume no one who hates LuNa reads this story, since it's such a large aspect of it, but if some of you do then let me know that too. Obviously you don't have to, you guys never have to do anything, but I would like to know. So if any of you feel like telling me, shoot me a PM or something.

And one last thing before we get into this chapter. Eye color...as you may have noticed, I have purposely avoided describing the color of most people's eyes, the Strawhats in particular. Mihawk is one of the few exceptions. Why you may ask, well I'll tell you. I can never get a definitive answer on who's eyes are what color. With the exception of Robin, as, in the anime at least, she has light blue to blue eyes. I know most people go with brown for Nami, and a lot of the time it does look like she has brown eyes, but many times I have seen her eyes take on a pink tint, so a pinkish brown basically. When does this happen? When's she's terrified, completely shocked, etc. Again, I'm going off the anime here.

Luffy is seen with black eyes most of the time, and I'm perfectly fine with that, I much prefer his usual black to the brown I've seen several people claim he has. But the rest of the Straw Hats...well, yeah, most of the time they look black, as is the case with a lot of guys in One Piece...except for Law, who you can clearly see has grey eyes, as well as Mihawk, Whitebeard, Kuma and, yeah, I'll just stop there.

The most popular opinion seems to be that Zoro's eyes are green, Sanji's eyes are dark blue and...well Chopper's stay black, I haven't seen anyone state what they think Franky's eye color is, and I've only seen people say Usopp's eyes are brown, as for Brook, well he has no eyes. Yohohoho! Okay, I won't do that again, I promise.

Why I am I talking about this? Because I use a person's eye color a fair amount in my writing, usually in relation to stuff with their eyes but I digress, but have had to refrain from doing so in this story. I don't want to do that anymore. I very much want to be able to use everything I have available in my very small skillset when it comes to writing to make this story as great as possible. So, starting next chapter, I am no longer going to be restricting myself when it comes to eye colors.

So, since that's been decided, I'll tell you the other reason why I'm bothering to tell you guys this. I would like your guys input. It's my story, so I do get the final say, but you guys have been awesome and I'd very much like to get you involved with this. I've done it once before, with the movies, and I'd like to do it again. I know it might seem like a trivial matter, but it matters to me, so I'm doing it.

I want you guys to tell me what you think I should write the Straw Hats eye colors as, in the form of a private message or at the end of a review. Now regardless, I will be writing Luffy's eyes as black, Chopper's eyes as black and Robin's eyes as light blue to blue. But the rest of the Straw Hats, minus Brook, are open to interpretation. And if you guys don't give me any input at all, or I decide to not go with any suggestions and fall back on my default, I will write Sanji with dark blue or blue eyes, Zoro with dark green eyes, Usopp with brown eyes or hazel as I haven't decided, Nami with pinkish brown eyes and Franky...yeah, I haven't figured that out yet. I'm thinking a steely blue, or a bluish grey.

Sorry, sorry, but I have one final tidbit to say. Yay! Todays marks the second year anniversary of when Ultimate Adventure began! September Ninth, my birthday, the anniversary of when I began this story...everybody cheer! No? Oh...okay then, never mind. Forget I said anything.

Anyway, with all of that said, welcome to the next chapter of season 2, as I like to call it, of Ultimate Adventure. This, as you could guess from the title, will not follow Luffy and his crew though. This is the first of many side stories I plan on writing, which will be posted from time to time, and have us focus on other characters in the One Piece world. Buggy has first dibs, so go see what he's up to. Please read, review and enjoy.

* * *

"WHO'S GOT A BIG NOSE!?" Buggy screamed angrily, some spittle splattering onto the face of the man he was yelling at since they were all but nose to nose.

"THAT'S NOT EVEN WHAT I SAID YOU DAMN CLOWN!" The man screamed right back just as angrily, said man once being known as Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan, but was now just known as simply Morgan, as he had been stripped of his title, for obvious reasons, and no longer had an axe hand, as it had been shattered and had yet to be repaired. Thankfully his jaw brace had been repaired and reattached, but that was the extent of the medical treatment he had received.

Both men wore matching white and black striped prisoner outfits, along with the rest of Buggy's crew, as they had yet to have a chance to change since escaping their marine escorts. How they had pulled that off even they didn't know, as Garp the Fist himself had come to oversee their trip to the Grand Line, where they would have been taken to Impel Down. Then again, it was probably because he had been there that they had escaped, or at least his presence accredited to it.

As when he had boarded the ship, the two most important prisoners had been presented to him, Buggy and Morgan, most likely to intimidate them as they were transferred to his ship. However it ended up backfiring, as Garp had fallen asleep on his feet, having been up an ungodly amount of hours on pure sugar power alone thanks to his beloved donuts. And using that to their advantage, they attacked the vice admiral, or rather Morgan did as Buggy was too frightened to do so, having seen his strength first hand while traveling with his old crew. But when the old man went down and failed to get right back up, like the clown pirate had seen him do when fighting Roger on too many occasions, he snapped himself out of his state of fear and took action, spurring his crew to do the same.

Overpowering the marines closest to them, the group barged their way through and onto the confiscated Big Top, the Buggy Pirate's ship, taking the former marine's son, Helmeppo, hostage as they did. In doing this, they hoped to dissuade the marines from firing on them as they sailed away, as with two ships there, there were still more than enough soldiers to take them out even after they clobbered the amount that they did. And thankfully, for them, it worked. Even better than they thought it would actually, as one marine, a chore boy with pink hair, Coby they believed they heard Helmeppo call him, actually leapt overboard and came swimming after them.

With their slow start, he managed to catch up to them and climb aboard. He was scared, just like the blonde they held captive, but he still tried to fight them, managing to fire up his fellow chore boy enough to do the same. Needless to say, they got their asses handed to them, big time. Rather than kill them though, they kicked them off the ship once they were no longer within firing range, stranding them in the middle of the ocean. They most likely found their way back to the two marine ships, then again maybe not, they didn't know, nor did they care.

After that they made landfall at the closest island, which just happened to be the Island of Rare Animals. Now why would they stop at such an island, considering there was no port or anything of the like that would interest escaped fugitives? Because their ship ended up taking some damage thanks to a giant crab that had ambushed them from underwater, having taken it out with a well placed shot with a Buggy Ball. They would have taken it out sooner, preventing them from taking any damage, but the contents of their ship had been moved all around when they were in the possession of the Marines. They were lucky that was all, as they were supposed to confiscate their things, especially their weapons, but for some reason they hadn't done so.

Regardless of all that, they needed a bit of a patch, so they stopped there and used what little skills they had to repair the damage done to their ship. Though it wasn't that simple, considering they ended up running into a man trapped in a chest known as Gaimon. He attacked them, they fought back and nearly killed the guy, as he stood no chance. However, his death was put on hold after he revealed why he had attacked them in the first place, to defend the animals of the island. The fact that he offered to share some sake with them helped them come to the decision not to kill him, as well as the fact that he sincerely apologized and also mentioned once being a pirate himself.

Morgan was irate about it and wanted nothing more than to kill the man in a box and Buggy, and take the ship and go. Unfortunately for him, he lacked his axe hand and lacked the strength required to defeat the captain of the ship he wished to steal so much. So he was forced to settle down and deal with it as the former pirate and current pirates partied.

The next day, their new friend Gaimon helped them with their repairs. It wasn't pretty, but it would hold up at least, so they set sail soon after, saying a tearful farewell to their new friend as they did, Morgan muttering profanities and promises of death under his breath the whole time as this happened.

A few hours later, having become completely fed up with the clown and his pirates, Morgan finally snapped and the two broke out into a loud argument. What was it about? A number of things, such as pirates and marines, what happened at Shells Town, the fact that Morgan no longer held a position of power like he was used to and wanted authority again, what happened with Garp, and of course, the biggest point of contention, that the former marine wanted to kill them all and was only still even on this ship because he had nowhere else to go until they hit an inhabited island, as they lacked even a row boat for the white-blonde haired man take and be on his way. Which led to where they were now, screaming at the top of their lungs in each other's faces...

Cabaji, Mohji, Richie and the rest of the Buggy Pirates stood at a distance from their captain and the former marine as they had their shouting match, both looking meaner by the second, not one of them wishing to get caught up in that. Even still, the threatening to burst into violence argument was all they were paying attention to, never having seen someone make their captain so angry without being outright killed before, Luffy excluded since they weren't there. Because of this fact, everyone aboard the Big Top failed to notice the ship that was approaching them...

Said ship was of a modest size and shaped like a heart in it's design. Colored pink, the red hearts that encircled the ship across the sides really popped. Then there were the eight hearts arranged in a straight line across the sail...yes, all in all, this ship was rather hard to miss. Yet all those present did just that.

"The captain's head looks like it's about to explode." The acrobatic swordsman remarked

"I know what you mean. I don't think I've ever seen him this mad before..." The self proclaimed beast tamer added, sounding a tad worried.

One couldn't blame him for worrying, as the former marine and the pirate captain continued to scream at each other, the big nosed one of them was going extremely red in the face. He had yet to even taken a second's reprieve to breathe.

"I honestly can't believe the captain hasn't killed him yet. I mean, the last person who got him even close to this ticked off wound up as a corpse." Commented the unicyclist with a dash of disbelief in his tone.

"You know what? That's a good question, why hasn't the captain killed him yet? That was the whole reason we went to Shells Town in the first place, wasn't it?" The whip carrying man questioned, a tad confused.

If Cabaji answered that question, Mohji was unable to hear it, as the volume of the yelling increased even further then.

"YOU GODDAMN MORONIC BASTARD, WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE TO CUT YOU TO PIECES RIGHT NOW!" Cried Morgan, filled to bursting with anger and frustration.

"CUT ME TO PIECES!? HA, AS IF YOU COULD! EVEN WITHOUT THE CHOP CHOP FRUIT, A HACK LIKE YOU COULD NEVER EVEN COME CLOSE TO CUTTING ME!" Buggy bit back, a fair amount of spittle launching from his big mouth as he did.

"UGH, YOU DISGUSTING PIRATE SCUM! LEARN TO NOT SPIT WHILE SPEAKING!" The one handed man demanded with detestation as he wiped the spit off his face with his one hand.

"DISGUSTING!? HOW DARE YOU!?" Buggy cried in outrage, his face so red that it's shade matched his nose.

"HOW DARE I!? HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE DRENCHING A GREAT MAN SUCH AS I IN YOUR FILTHY DNA!" The former marine captain shot back, his face now as red as the nose on Buggy's face.

Thanks to all the shouting, not one person took notice of the ship covered in hearts, even as it pulled up beside the Big Top and the one manning it stepped to the railing and spoke. "Oh boys." They said pleasantly.

"AND JUST WHAT MAKES YOU SO GREAT ANYWAY!? THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE ONLY ONE HAND!?" The blue haired man queried sarcastically.

"Boys." The newcomer repeated themselves, a little louder this time in hopes of gaining their attention.

"I MAY ONLY HAVE ONE HAND, BUT IT'S ONE MORE THAN I NEED TO KILL YOU!" Came the whitish blonde haired man's rebuttal.

Despite Morgan's top of the lung yell, the rest of the individuals aboard the Big Top, minus Buggy of course, finally took notice of the person standing at the railing of the ship that had pulled up beside theirs.

"Uh, Captain..." Cabaji and Mohji said in unison, trying to get their captain's attention, to no avail. "Captain." They repeated themselves, louder this time.

"OH YEAH!? YOU WANNA TEST-" The red nosed pirate began, only to be cut off as his entire crew spoke up in unison, "CAPTAIN!"

"WHAT!?" He cried in a mix of anger, annoyance and frustration, turning to face them as he did. At the same time, the only person present not standing on the Big Top finally raised their voice, "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

That's when he saw what they were trying to tell him about, as he noticed the person who had managed to come to a stop beside them with their ship, without alerting anyone to their presence. It was hard not to in fact, as they stood at the railing, in clear view, and had just shouted at them all. Not to mention the fact that every single member of the clown pirate's crew, including Richie, was pointing directly at her. "Some pretty lady is here." They all told him simultaneously, even the lion of the crew grunting something similar, despite not being able to speak.

Pretty lady indeed. This woman was tall, standing six foot something, slender, was fairly well endowed and had what appeared to be silky smooth skin, as well as long wavy black hair and green eyes. As for her apparel, it consisted of a white cowboy hat with a large red plume, a pearl necklace around her neck, a red and white striped bikini top with pink frills, tight pink capri pants that reached her shins with an accompanying brown belt, generic sandals and a long purple coat with yellow trim, similar to an overcoat or a trench coat, over it all.

Knowing she had their attention at this point, she spoke once more, her tone pleasant again. "Buggy the pirate clown right?" Her eyes shifted to the one handed man then. "And you're former marine captain Axe-Hand Morgan." There was no question present in that sentence.

"What's it to you!? Just who are you lady!?" Buggy inquired, his aggravation all too clear. Though his face had returned to it's normal color, as he finally had a reprieve from screaming his lungs out, he was far from being in a good mood.

Morgan simply glared at the woman for her words, scowling deeply as he did.

"My name is Alvida." She answered, but she didn't stop there, she took it a step further and explained why she was here. "And I'm looking for a certain young pirate, one that I'm sure the two of you know well." With that she produced a piece of paper from her bikini top, having tucked it away, pulling it out and proceeding to hold it up for the others to see what it clearly was.

What was this piece of paper? A wanted poster for one Monkey D. Luffy, wanted dead or alive for fifty million berris.

"AAAHHH! THAT'S HIM!" Buggy cried in shock. "Stupid brat, just wait till I get my hands on you! YOU'RE DEAD!" He cried further, his rage level at an extreme high once again.

"That sunuva bitch has fifty million berris on his head!? What idiot gave that worthless punk such a high bounty!?" Morgan queried angrily and incredulously.

"FIFTY MILLION!?" The rest of the men on the Big Top repeated in unison in disbelief.

"Wait, is that the guy you're looking for?" The clown pirate questioned, his curiosity suddenly making him considerably calmer.

"Indeed he is." Alvida confirmed, stashing the poster back inside her bikini top, stepping up onto the railing of her heart shaped ship as she did. "And I was hoping that you would be able to help me locate him." She informed him, jumping up and over to the Big Top, just barely managing to clear the railing as she did, landing on the deck of the larger ship gracefully regardless.

Morgan couldn't help but snort in incredulity, his rage forgotten for a moment because of the woman's words. "Good luck with that. This moron couldn't even locate the ridiculous big red nose on his face." He remarked derisively.

"THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY!? THAT'S IT! PREPARE TO DIE FLASHILY!" Buggy shrieked furiously, lunging at the former marine as he did.

"BRING IT CLOWN!" Morgan goaded with just as much rage.

Before the two could actually do any damage to each other, the black haired woman intervened, stepping between them and pushing them away from each other as she did. "Break it up!" She barked at them.

Strangely enough, they listened, both gritting their teeth and breathing hard in barely contained rage, looking ready to kill, but not making any move to try and get at each other again. Since this was the case, she took a step back to give them their personal space back, before speaking further, "Calm down boys, that's enough fighting." She told them.

They failed to respond, but continued to comply. This, for obvious reasons, left the rest of the Buggy Pirates speechless, as those two never listened to anybody on anything.

"I came looking for you two so as to propose an alliance, so you killing each other just won't do." She admitted to them then, trying to keep things civil.

"An alliance?" Both men repeated.

"With this bastard? Never!" Buggy proclaimed.

Morgan didn't think too highly of the idea either. "Why would someone as great as I ever stoop as low as to band together with scum like you?" He queried rhetorically, looking affronted at the mere mention of the idea.

If Alvida was offended at his words, she certainly didn't show it, remaining completely composed. "Oh I don't know, perhaps say...to kill the man who's responsible for putting you in the position of having to even consider it in the first place? The same man who got you stripped you of your rank and reduced you to being no better than us 'scum' that you seem to detest so much?"

"Why you!" The former marine snarled, looking ready to attack once more.

"Think about it, both of you. He was able to defeat each one of us individually, however, if we were to team up..." She left her suggestion hanging there, letting the two connect the dots themselves.

A good portion of the anger, annoyance and detestation both men felt visibly fell away, as the thought of killing the teen who had defeated them overrid just about everything else. Even if they had to work together, if they could kill the rubberman, it would be worth it.

"So then, what do you say?" She inquired.

"Ah to hell with it, I'm in." Buggy conceded. "We all want to kill the same stupid kid, so we might as well work together." He acknowledged.

A vein visibly bulged in Morgan's forehead, the man gritting his teeth as he breathed heavily through his nostrils, his anger coming back in an instant, as he never did as others told him or even bid him to. In his mind he was so great that he shouldn't have to listen to anybody, as he was the highest authority. This instance challenged that to a degree, but what happened with Luffy challenged it much further. So with a heavy sigh, his form relaxed and he gave in. "Fine. If it means I can take the head of the bastard who reduced me to this, then I suppose I can stomach working with you pirates for a little while."

Alvida smiled with satisfaction at that. "It's settled then. Let's celebrate with a drink."

"Oh yeah! Now you're speaking my language! It's party time boys!" Buggy exclaimed jovially, whirling to face his crew as he did.

"YEAH!" They all cried out in agreement simultaneously.

With that Buggy got busy, busting out the booze with the help of some of his subordinates. As he did this, Alvida looked to Morgan solely, saying this as she did, "After this we should see about getting you a replacement axe. You are known as Axe-Hand Morgan after all, it simply wouldn't do for you to go without your infamous weapon."

Morgan merely grunted in agreement, not willing to admit to anyone, even himself, just how disadvantaged he was without his axe hand.

* * *

Three days later...

Buggy, who no longer sported the garb of a prisoner and was now dressed in the same outfit he had worn back at Shells Town, stood at the bow of his ship with a pair of binoculars. Using them, he managed to spot something interesting beside the island they had planned on passing right by in their search for Monkey D. Luffy. Said island itself was round in shape with four mountains protruding on the edge, causing the landmass to resemble a bear paw over all. The island's shape wasn't what caught the pirate captain's attention though, rather it was a somewhat large ship that was colored red and black with the base of the hull being green in contrast, had a black cat figurehead and ornamental cat claws on the sides. As for the flag it was flying, for it did indeed fly a flag, it was the standard jolly roger but with a cat skull rather than a human one, with accompanying eye slits.

"Hey! HEY!" Buggy called rather loudly and unnecessarily , attempting to get the others attention.

While his crew, who were used to his antics, did nothing but come closer, or at least Cabaji and Mohji did, the two new comers onboard responded vocally.

"You don't need to yell, I'm standing right here." Alvida reminded him politely. Which was true, as she wasn't even five feet from him. "Now what is it?" She questioned.

"What are you hollering on about now clown?" Morgan inquired irritably as he came out on deck, no longer wearing the white and black striped garments either. He now wore a simple pair of black slacks, a pair of nondescript boots and a black sleeveless shirt exactly like he used to don. In addition, he once again possessed the axe hand that he was so well known for, only this time it was made of tougher stuff, the finest steel mined in the entire East Blue.

Ignoring the urge to give a retort to the axe handed man, Buggy instead told them the reason he had gotten their attention. "Look, there's a pirate ship over there by that island." He offered the binoculars to the only woman aboard as he said this.

She took them, using them to take a quick look, before replying, "Yeah, so?" It was clear she didn't see what the point was, going so far as to hand the binoculars off to Morgan as she did.

"So? So!? If there's a pirate ship, there are pirates. If there are pirates, then there is loot worth stealing. In other words, treasure!" The clown pirate explained excitedly.

"I'm at my limit for the amount of pirate trash I can deal wit-" Morgan's sentence died in his throat as he looked through the binoculars to see the ship for himself, the jolly roger catching his eye in particular. "Tha-that's the Bezan Black, the ship of the Black Cat Pirates." He stated with no small amount of disbelief, sounding taken a back to see it, which he was, his eyes being as wide as dinner plates evidence to this.

"The Black Cat Pirates?" The black haired woman repeated with confusion. "But I thought they disbanded after their captain was executed almost three years ago."

"Who cares." Buggy interjected curtly. "Let's just get over there and steal their treasure already."

"Aye aye, Captain." Cabaji and Mohji finally spoke, doing so together to let their captain to know they were on it.

* * *

Once ashore, Buggy and crew, minus Richie since he couldn't fit, wasted no time in raiding the pirate ship, which upon making landfall they had quickly found to be deserted. Alvida and Morgan opted to remain on the shore instead of boarding the empty ship, one of them simply looking around and taking in their surroundings, the female of the two, and the other staring hard up at the jolly roger of the abandoned boat, almost as if he was trying to burn holes in the thing. Needless to say, he was deep in thought as he did this.

Because of that, he failed to notice as something caught Alvida's eye and she walked over to it. "Hmm?" She wondered aloud, coming to a stop before the item in question, examining it as she did.

It appeared to be a makeshift spear made up of a long wooden shaft, most likely fastened from part of one of the trees that were clearly numerous on the island, and a battered and worn blade from some kind of sword strapped to the end. What really caught the female pirate's attention though was the small purple bear paw print upon the weapon.

At the same time as she saw this mark, Buggy came stomping out of the empty pirate ship, clearly upset as he did, his crew following behind. The reason for this was rather obvious, nevertheless, the clown pirate let his reason for distress be known. "There wasn't even a single stinking berri onboard!"

"Maybe it was taken inland by the crew that manned the ship?" Cabaji offered, hoping to keep his captain calm. As when it came to treasure, he got rather emotional, whether it was joy and excitement or anger and frustration simply depended on the situation.

"Well, whoever was here..." Alvida began, getting everyone's attention as she did. "They seem to have had the misfortune of running into the Bear Claw Tribe." She continued, pulling the makeshift spear out of the ground and presenting it to the others so they could get a good look at it. "So they're most likely dead. We won't even be able to find so much as a corpse." She remarked. "The Bezan Black being completely empty makes sense now." She added.

"And why is that?" Buggy inquired grumpily, still severely disappointed by the lack of treasure aboard the Bezan Black.

"Because the Bear Claw Tribe are cannibals." Alvida informed him and everyone else bluntly, tossing the spear a few feet in front of her, it hitting the ground just a few inches or so from Mohji, the blade going halfway into the ground before the momentum came to an end.

"AHHHHH!" The entirety of the Buggy Pirates, minus Cabaji, cried in fright, Mohji especially as he nearly jumped out of his skin as the spear almost hit him, which in turn caused his swordsman rival to burst into a fit of laughter at the white haired man's expense.

"It isn't funny you asshole!" Mohji quickly exclaimed after composing himself, his anger with the unicyclist abundant. For all his words did, he might as well as have said nothing, the two different shades of green hair having man just continuing to laugh his ass off at his fellow crewmen's fear. "I wasn't scared or anything, just shocked!" The so called beast tamer wasn't the least bit convincing as he said this.

"So, what do you want to do?" The only female amongst them queried, looking toward Buggy as she did. "Do we go looking inland, or do we just get back on the ship and leave?" By the tone of her voice it was clear she didn't mind either way.

"Just forget it, if these bastards don't have any treasure then I don't want nothin to do with'em." The clown pirate replied with a frown and a dismissive wave.

Surprisingly enough, it was Morgan that protested to this. "No, we go inland."

"Excuse me!? I'm the one who gives the orders!" Buggy objected, clearly annoyed, stepping toward the other man as he did.

"Not to me you don't, as you simply can't compare to my greatness!" The whitish blonde haired man remonstrated stubbornly, taking a step forward also.

Just before Buggy could open his mouth, which would surely lead to another screaming match between the two men, Alvida intervened. "Now, now, boys, what have I told you about fighting?" Smiling at them, she stepped forward to stand between them, the two backing off a few moments afterward. "You two can tear one and other apart if you really must, but only after we've found and dealt with Luffy, alright?"

Neither gave an affirmative answer, but their scoffs and the fact that they no longer appeared to be ready to lunge at each other said what needed to be said. "Now Morgan, why is it that you want to go inland?" She questioned him.

"None of your business." Was his gruff response.

"Come now, if you tell us we can get it done quicker and be on our way." She attempted to persuade him.

"I said it was none of your business bitch!" The axe handed man spat angrily at her.

At that the usually very pleasant woman's eyes became dark as a look of rage came upon her face. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Alvida produced a big iron spiked club and proceeded to ram it into the side of the former marine's head, jumping up a little as she did so. "I was trying to keep things civil you prick!" She exclaimed as he was knocked hard to the ground, skidding across the ground for several feet as he did.

The spikes were rather dull so they failed to pierce his flesh, but the wallop he received had most definitely knocked Morgan for a loop, evidence of that fact coming in the form of his guttural yell of pain and the fact that it took him a few moments before he began getting to his feet.

Meanwhile, Buggy was nearly in tears, laughing so hard that he was almost doubled over. "That's what you get you bastard!" He said between laughs.

As Morgan did begin the climb to his feet, there were curses of Alvida and Buggy along with a string of profanities, however, even once upright again, he made no move to retaliate against her. Why? Simple, he knew it was completely pointless and that to attack her would just be an utter waste of time and energy. After all, her devil fruit ability kept her from sustaining any damage. "Fucking devil fruit users..." The all black wearing man muttered to himself in aggravation, as since meeting his first devil fruit user, Luffy, his life had gone to shit, as Buggy and Alvida followed and they made things even worse for him. Buggy especially...'I swear I'm going to kill that clown one day.' He thought to himself.

"Now then, feel like cooperating!?" The angry green eyed beauty asked.

Turning his head to the side, the former marine proceeded to spit out the blood that had accumulated in his mouth. Looking back toward her, he begrudgingly agreed. "Fine."

While Morgan went on to explain his reason for wanting to go inland, telling them of his history with the Black Cat Pirates, the entirety of the Buggy Pirates, their captain being the only exception, sweatdropped at what they had just seen. 'She's as scary as the captain.' They all thought privately to themselves, including Richie.

* * *

Within the hour they managed discover the Bear Claw Tribe's home village, it consisting of roughly two dozen spaced out huts built from wood and straw, as well as one quite large hut and a large campfire-like setup with large stones and big logs, as well as an oversized cooking pot, easily big enough to fit a large group of human beings inside of. Though not a one of them really registered these details, as they were too busy staring at the carnage around them.

Men of varying ages and sizes were scattered about the area, all wearing similar peculiar hairstyles and the same outfit, said outfit consisting of a blue and purple striped shirt, torn up grass skirt, a grass necklace, a long scarf-like cloth tied around the neck and plain sandals. Another thing they had in common? They were soaked to the bone in their own blood, their clothes and flesh alike torn all to hell. The husks that were their bodies could barely be described as so, as they looked more akin to carved up meat than humans. Needless to say, they all knew that there wasn't a single living member of the Bear Claw Tribe left, as none of them were naïve enough to believe such a thing for even a moment.

"Holy shit..." One Buggy pirate muttered to himself.

"What the actual fuck!?" Another exclaimed in shock and horror.

"My god!" A third couldn't help but say aloud, taken completely off guard by it all.

It was a disturbing sight to most of the Buggy Pirates, as while they had seen their captain kill plenty of people, and they themselves had done their fair share of killing, they had never seen anything quite as brutal as this. It was a massacre, there was no other way to describe it. Corpses were strewn about all over the place, blood bathed the ground...it was a sight that was completely foreign to them. Slaughter...that was the word for it.

And the person responsible for it was all too clear, as he was the only one left alive. He stood in the middle of the bloodbath, his back to them as he affixed several of the blades from the Bear Claw Tribe's makeshift spears to the glove he wore on his right hand. Even upon hearing their voices he made no move to rush, his attention solely on making sure the blades were secure and weren't going anywhere anytime soon, clearly not the least bit worried or bothered by their presence. He clearly didn't think them any kind of threat.

Once he was finished attaching the blades, he turned around to face the group of people who had stumbled upon his little mess. And as he did, Morgan's eyes widened to their fullest and his jaw dropped nearly to the floor, no longer able to deny the truth of who this man was, having been doing so since he had arrived on the island. 'Kuro is dead, I captured him and he was executed.' He kept repeating to himself over and over again in an attempt to combat the mounting suspicion building up within him. Said suspicion skyrocketed the moment he saw all of the blood, and seeing that man, even from the back, he knew the truth, deep down. Face to face with him like this though, there was no room left for doubt and he could no longer remain in denial.

Kuro was alive, and here he stood before him. He looked considerably different, very disheveled, what with his slicked back hair now wild and untamed, his signature glasses missing entirely and his suit jacket wide open, the tie gone altogether and his shirt only half closed, not to mention the fact that he had large splotches of blood all across his form. His appearance was in stark contrast to the well put together and almost dapper way he used to look, the differences extending even to clothing choice as only the gloves he wore at the moment were a part of his wardrobe almost three years ago. And yet there was no denying that this man was Kuro, the Man of a Thousand Plans, very much alive and in the flesh.

"What happened here? Just why did you do this?" Buggy couldn't help but inquire, having seen such savagery before but never indulging in it himself. While not disturbed by it like most of his crew, he was somewhat unsettled by it, mostly because he hadn't expected to see it in the weakest of the seas, the East Blue. Besides, he didn't see the point in this kind of brutality, he preferred simple kills. Or clean ones, like with his Buggy Balls.

"Why?" The man in question repeated. "Simple. They made the mistake of thinking they could make a meal out of me. So, I in turn allowed my Cat Claw to feast on their blood." The ridiculous amount of blood that covered the blades of his weapon, the one he hadn't jerry rigged, accentuated his statement.

At least ninety percent of Buggy's crew looked ready to wet themselves at those words. Cabaji and Mohji looking perturbed, while Buggy and Alvida looked a tad uncomfortable themselves. As for Morgan...

"I-impossible, ho-how could y-you po-possibly be...?" Morgan began, finally finding his voice as he picked his jaw up off the floor and stuttered in complete and utter disbelief. "How...? Ju-just how are you alive! TELL ME KURO!" Morgan demanded, his disbelief warping into rage almost instantaneously.

The wild looking man, instead of attacking or giving some crazy ass response like many thought he would, simply looked toward the former marine and quirked a brow at him, as if just noticing his presence. "Morgan? I must admit, I didn't expect to run into you again, especially here." By his tone it was clear he wasn't even mildly concerned. He sounded almost bored actually.

Snarling like a wild animal, Morgan's body visibly tensed as his rage flowed through him. He looked almost like he would explode actually, as if he was having a meltdown, which would be attributed to his abundance of anger and shock and the restraint he was trying to use to keep himself from attacking so he could get the answers he wanted. "ANSWER ME GODDAMNIT! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?"

"You'd think it'd be obvious at this point." The deathly calm man started. "I never even came close to dying in the first place, you muscle bound imbecile." He finished derisively.

"EXCUSE ME!?" Morgan cried. "EXPLAIN YOU SCUM, NOW!" He ordered at the top of his lungs.

Frowning now, Kuro continued to speak on the subject. "You truly don't get it do you?" He questioned rhetorically. "You never captured me, let alone defeated me. That was just what you believed, what I wanted you and the rest of the world to believe. No, what happened that day was nothing more than the beginning of one of my plans, a simple bait and switch." He expounded. "To be honest, it could have been anyone I set up as the 'Hero' who captured 'Captain Kuro', it was just by chance that I chose you. You just happened to survive your unit's assault on my ship, so I picked you. Jango hypnotized you into believing you captured me, then our shipwright Nugire Yainu into believing he was the infamous Captain Kuro, then sent you two on your way, simple as that." He elucidated, obviously not the slightest bit worried about revealing such information with the way he was just giving it out.

Morgan, once more seeming like an animal, audibly growled at this. His anger was at an all time high, and he truly had no idea what was stopping him from completely losing it. Desire for further explanation? Shock? Or perhaps...just maybe...it was the tiny bit of fear he felt in the pit of his stomach? "WHY YOU DIRTY SUNUVA BITCH!" He screamed as loud as possible, enraged by this. If this got out, he would be even further discredited, as his feat of capturing Kuro the Man of a Thousand Plans was the whole reason he was promoted to the rank of captain in the first place. He may no longer be a marine, but to have his greatest achievement stripped from him would still be far too humiliating for him to endure. He was great, possibly the greatest, he refused to be slandered and defamed in such a way.

Seeing the plentitude of the blonde's rage, Kuro's frown faded, his face taking the cold, emotionless expression that was the norm for him. "I can see you're trembling with anger. You honestly believed you had bested me and earned that rank I heard you were so damn proud of, didn't you?" The dark haired man queried mockingly. "How foolish." He added contemptuously "You never had any hope of beating me, not with your pitiful strength and inferior intellect." He ridiculed. "But you were just simply too stupid to realize that." He taunted him. "And clearly, that hasn't changed." Kuro ended with a jeer.

Morgan's pride was beyond simply wounded, almost crushed into dust by all the things this pirate had to say. But far worse than that was that...this man had broken his jaw to the point where he would need a brace for the rest of his life, and had taken his right hand from him that fateful day almost three years ago. And as it turns out, he never got his retribution, instead being used like a pawn in this damn man's game. And now, here he was mocking him, belittling him. He had never felt so much shame and anger in his entire life. Any fear he felt, if any, was smothered completely by these emotions. "You...You...I...I WILL KILL YOU KURO!" He bellowed with a copious amount of fury, a vein visibly bulging in the side of his neck, his eyes having become seriously bloodshot as he finally snapped and went charging at the bloody man.

Sprinting at top speed, Morgan brought his axe over head, raising it as high as he could before leaping into the air, quickly coming back down while giving a wordless battle cry and bringing his axe-hand racing back down as well. Kuro was ready for him though, raising his original cat claw to block the incoming momentum heavy strike, the metal of the five katana blades meeting the metal of the axe with a rather loud clang, the steel almost singing from the impact. Kuro didn't budge an inch upon impact though, despite the axe-handed man's efforts.

As their weapons clashed both men held strong, the former marine's feet firmly on the ground again, neither so much as flinching as they pitted their strength against one and other, pushing their weapons against each other with all their might. It seemed to be a deadlock, at least for the first few moments or so, that is until the dark haired man flexed his hand, clinking the under pressure blades together, and proceeded to redirect his enemy's axe, using his power and his weapon to divert the steel made cutting instrument.

The taller man almost stumbled as his attack was subverted, using that to his advantage, Kuro brought his slapped together cat claw up to do some damage. And as he brought it down, his opponent had no choice but to take the slashes to the chest, only able to take a single step back so as to prevent the wound he received from being fatal.

Hissing in pain, Morgan ignored the blood seeping from the five marks on his chest and brought his axe hand to the side, intending to swipe at the lighter skinned man and catch him by his neck, aiming to rend his head from his shoulders. But it wasn't to be, as the former black cat pirate swayed out of harms way, forcing his light haired opponent to pay for his miss with another stroke of one of his cat claws, this time tearing into the flesh of his right arm, blood oozing from the new lacerations.

Cursing in a combination of pain and frustration, Morgan opted not to go with his axe first this time, pulling it back while lunging towards his shorter adversary, his left arm cocked back for a strong left straight. When he threw the punch it was dodged, easily avoided by his target, but he had been counting on that and had his axe in swing at the same time.

Kuro saw what he was trying to do almost immediately, even still, he only just managed to move out of the way and avoid sustaining any serious injury. Regardless, the axe did manage to knick the side of his face, blood beginning to trickle from it almost immediately. Frowning once more, Kuro was clearly annoyed by the fact that his own blood had finally joined the total of the ruby red substance spilled this day. That didn't stop him from parrying the incoming blow from his would be captor, nor did it keep him from engaging him further in combat, as while it was irritating that this occurred, it wasn't a big deal, not really, at least not enough to make him angry or distract him.

From there the two continued this dance of theirs for a few minutes, before something peculiar happened...

Bloodied and bruised, Morgan huffed in exertion, forcing himself to come to a stop, skidding somewhat as he did. Recovering from the hard kick he had just received to the chest from Kuro, who in comparison was relatively unharmed beside a few knicks here and there and a single bruise on his face, the former marine prepared to go at the furry gloves wearing man again.

Tearing up the dirt with his movements, the metal-jawed man came running at his bloody yet rather uninjured fellow combatant, his fury only having increased as the difference in their strength and speed was thrown in his face and shoved down his throat over and over again every time they clashed. "I...WILL...WIN! I...WILL...EXECUTE YOU!" He shouted as he prepared to attack once again.

Needless to say, Kuro didn't look convinced. "I think it's about time we end this." He commented, sounding bored once more. "Prepare to die." He stated bluntly, raising his right cat claw as he prepared to deliver a lethal blow. Only, he never got the chance, for as soon as the blades were in the air and fully extended, the former pirate captain's eyes widened and he proceeded to double over, hitting the ground hard knees first, and was struck with a horrible coughing fit.

His eyes dilated as his body was wracked with intense pain from the inside, almost a mouthful of blood coming up and splattering onto the ground with every cough, hacking it up in a rather dangerous quantity. 'Not now!' The former cat themed pirate thought frantically.

Not that this strange occurrence deterred the former marine captain in the slightest, bringing his axe overhead as he closed the last bit of distance between him and Kuro, ready to finally take the man's life. "DIIIIIEEEEE KUUUROOO!" He cried at the very top of his lungs.

Looking up, doing so just as the violent coughing fit ended, the Man of a Thousand Plans came face to face with the steel axe of Axe-Hand Morgan, the weapon seeking his death. Only it never got it, as at the last moment, someone intervened.

"Hold up!" Alvida shouted, her shout ringing out beside the noise of steel meeting iron as the axe-hand met her club.

"Huh!? You!?" Morgan said in shock, before his fury flooded in. "What the hall do you think you're doing!?" He exclaimed furiously.

"Yeah, what's the big idea!? It was just getting to the good part!" Buggy complained, vexed that the fight had been broken up. Why? Because he, and just about every member of his crew as well, had been chanting fight, fight, fight and egging the two combatants on, not that they had paid the pirates any attention as they fought.

"WHY'D YOU STOP THE FIGHT!?" Questioned the entirety of the Buggy Pirate crew, minus the clown himself, simultaneously.

"You better start talking, otherwise you'll die too! I don't care how long it takes, I'll find a way to get around that ability of yours! I'll fucking drown you somehow if need be!" Morgan threatened, his extreme anger all too clear.

Rather than retaliate or respond to that threat, the beautiful woman went ahead and explained herself. "Think about it Morgan, this man is Kuro, the Man of a Thousand Plans. Not only would his physical prowess increase our fighting ability, but his mind would all but assure our victory, when combined with all our might of course. With him on our side, there isn't a single chance we could lose. We should have him join the alliance, not waste this opportunity by killing him."

Morgan snarled, his vehement protest to the idea a second away from leaving his mouth. Yet, before he could, someone else did.

"And just what makes you think I'll join you?" Kuro inquired with irritation as he rose to his feet, flexing his cat claws as he did, as a form of intimidation. He had no qualms about killing them all, that much anyone could see.

"This." Alvida answered immediately, turning her eyes to Kuro, but never dropping her guard in case Morgan managed to break away from her club and tried to attack their possible new ally. As she did, she produced Luffy's bounty from her bikini top.

"That boy...!" Kuro hissed, his face contorting with rage and aggravation, as well as some surprise, thanks to the amount of the teen's bounty.

"You know who he is, I thought so. I had a feeling that you might have ran into him, considering all that he gets up to and all, not to mention you have this sense of...defeat around you. I figured he was responsible for that."

Growling, the normally composed man let his own anger show through.

"Now, now, don't make that face at me. I'm not mocking you, rest assured." The club wielding woman assured him. "No, rather I'm making you an offer. Join us, join our alliance, and together we can get revenge on this man for what he did to each of us. If we work together, he won't stand a chance. But for it to work, it'll take all of us. We thought we could do it without you, but now...I'm not so sure. But with you, I'm certain that we can accomplish our goal. And surely that appeals to you, as you want to see Straw Hat dead too, right?" She paused for a moment, as if waiting for his answer, but went on to finish regardless of not receiving one. "So...will you join?"

Kuro failed to respond, simply glaring at the poster of Luffy as Morgan went on a verbal tirade about how he would never work with him, though nobody really listened to a word he said as he did. The darkly dressed man's eyes then moved to Alvida, glaring at her now, before returning back to the picture of the one who defeated him and crushed his nearly three year long plan. Soon enough though, his face returned to it's neutral state, calm and stone-like. As it did, he turned his eyes to Morgan, then to Buggy and his crew, then back to Alvida, and finally back to the bounty poster once more. No longer glaring, he gazed long and hard at the smiling face of the teenager who ruined everything for him, his mind going a million miles an hour. He continued to do this, until he finally came to a decision.

"..."

* * *

Twenty four hours later...

"It's a passenger ship." Mohji stated.

"Yeah, we could see that." Alvida replied.

"Question is, why are they flying a white flag?" Cabaji wondered aloud.

"Isn't it obvious? Clearly they saw the jolly roger of the infamous Buggy Pirates and began cowering in their boots and trying not to wet themselves! To try and appease us, they raised a white flag to let us know they surrender and won't put up any resistance as we plunder whatever booty they possess!" Buggy explicated before beginning to cackle amusedly at the notion. Mohji and Cabaji in turn grinned widely at that, instantly agreeing with their captain and liking his idea of what was going on.

"Sure, that must be it." Morgan commented with a roll of his eyes. "Stupid fucking clown." He remarked further, his annoyance clear.

Ignoring the former marine's words, Buggy's laughter came to an end as he barked, "Alright men, prepare to board that ship! We've got goodies to steal!"

"YEAH!" They all shouted their approval together.

"Morons, can't you see this is a trap?" Kuro queried. "They're waving the white flag but are only now within our field of vision. Not to mention the fact that there is clearly not a single person on deck of that ship. It's obviously some kind of ambush." He informed them, pushing up his new pair of glasses as he did, so as to prevent them from falling off his face. Speaking of which, besides the glasses, which were identical to his original pair, he also now wore a long sleeve white button up shirt, a pair of black slacks, as well as retaining his original black and white striped shoes.

What were they all going on about exactly? The fact that a large passenger ship, most likely a cruise ship, was not only close to the Big Top, but close enough to see all the details of it clearly with the naked eye, and was flying a white flag of surrender. And as Kuro had pointed out, there wasn't a single person standing on deck of said ship.

Alvida purposely moved back, to stand in the seven or so feet of distance between Morgan and Kuro, just in case they tried to go at each other again. Now, while she was confident in her abilities of persuasion, having gotten the former captain of the black cat pirates to agree to work with them until Luffy had been taken care of, as well as having promised Morgan she would let him kill Kuro afterward, even help him if need be, the glasses wearing man not needing to know she said such a thing, there was still a sliver of a chance they would go back on their agreement and try to kill each other again. Because of that, she would consciously stand between them from time to time.

"I have to agree, this is most certainly a trap. But knowing that's not gonna stop you, is it?" She inquired, looking toward Buggy as she did.

"Hell no! Not when there's a chance to get some loot anyway!" Buggy admitted jovially, "Now, who's coming with me?" He questioned them all with a large grin.

* * *

In the end, the boarding party was made up of Buggy, Morgan, Alvida and Kuro. With Cabaji and Mohji staying behind to guard the ship with the rest of the crew, in case the objective of this whole trap they were walking into was to steal their boat. Admittedly though, sending these four, especially with tensions between Kuro and Morgan as well as Buggy and Morgan seemed a not so bright idea, with Alvida there to keep them from killing each other though it seemed plausible that things could go right. As to whether they actually would or not, well...

Not even a full minute after they stepped aboard the civilian ship did things go wrong, as someone leapt out from where they were hiding, not bothering to even speak a word before attacking, doing so with a relatively large sword. With a big swing, this person, who they could immediately tell was a man, proceeded to behead one of them, quickly moving to attack again afterward. Another swing and they cleaved one of the others in half, not wasting any time in going after the other two, delivering a slash to kill them both at the same time. Or at least, that's what the man had intended to do. What actually happened was this...

With a cry of shock and mild fear, Buggy's head was separated from his shoulders as the blade of the sword attempted to, but ultimately failed, to harm him.

Alvida hardly noticed as the big blade of the somewhat large sword slipped across her skin, having been swung with the intent to end her life, but ended up doing nothing more than sliding across her skin without leaving so much as a scratch on it's silky smooth surface.

As for Morgan and Kuro, who were both being targeted at the same time, they raised their weapons, the former pirate of the two only raising his original cat claw rather than both, and proceeded to block the incoming slash, killing the momentum of the blade instantly as the steel of all the weapons clanged loudly against each other.

Grunting in aggravation, the assailant quickly jumped back away from the four, the alliance taking in his appearance as he did this. He was larger than the average man, tall and muscular with short cut grey hair that was rather unkempt, long sideburns and some light to moderate stubble. He wore dirty light purple pants and a singed, torn and beat up brown long sleeve shirt, the left sleeve all but nonexistent thanks to the damage it had sustained, as well as a single golden, diamond encrusted gauntlet on his left hand. The most eye catching thing about his appearance though was that his right arm hung limp at his side, clearly broken, and even more so were the second degree burns alongside the left side of his body, more specifically down his face and trailing across his arm, stopping at the gauntlet. The skin of these affected areas was red and sparsely covered in blisters.

"Damn you cursed devil fruit users!" The man exclaimed angrily, obviously speaking of Buggy, as the clown's head reattached itself, and Alvida, who hadn't so much as batted an eye yet, as no normal people could take slashes like that and come out unharmed, not so much as a drop of blood spilled.

"Foul Play Krieg." Alvida addressed him, recognizing him despite the state he was in and the lack of his infamous armor. "There's no other way to say this, you look like shit." She stated bluntly.

Krieg growled at that, tightening the grip on his large blade, the others believing it to be a type of Zweihander by it's appearance.

"You're lucky I can't be hurt by that stupid sword of yours, otherwise I'd kill you asshole!" Buggy blustered in an attempt to regain face. Needless to say, it did very little to do so.

"Foul Play Krieg?" Morgan repeated. "So this is the mightiest pirate in all the East Blue huh? How pitiful." He denigrated.

"This is what passed for the strongest while I was gone? Pathetic." Kuro remarked with disdain.

Snarling with rage, Krieg raised his sword. "You dare talk to me like that!? I am the strongest man in the world!" He boasted, lunging at them once more as he did.

With a quick slash he cut Buggy in half, followed up by an attempted beheading of Alvida, which ended with his blade slipping right off her skin. "And I don't take lightly to scum like you talking down to me!" He added, keeping himself from stumbling, righting his weapon and thrusting it at Morgan, who blocked it by meeting the tip of the sword head on with the flat of his axe. "Funny, I was just about to say the same thing!" The whitish blonde haired man shot back, using his strength to shove the cutting tool away from him.

Recovering quickly, so as to prevent a counter attack, the grey haired man kicked out at the former marine, nailing his axe dead center, causing him to take half a step back as he blocked the blow. Using that his advantage, Krieg turned to Kuro, lashing out at him before he was even fully facing him. "I will not be made a fool of, not again! YOU WILL ALL DIE!" He declared, his blood boiling and his eyes visibly bloodshot. The glasses wearing man was ready however, and met the big sword head on with his original cat claw, keeping it at bay long enough for him to launch an attack of his own, flicking his wrist and slicing Don from head to toe with his makeshift cat claw. "You couldn't kill a kitten with those sloppy movements of yours." The dark haired man ridiculed.

"AUUGHH!" Krieg shouted in pain as his shirt was damaged even further, his pants were finally ripped into and five new wounds were inflicted upon his body, blood seeping from them immediately after they entered into existence.

Staggering backwards, he had no time to defend himself as Axe-Hand's axe hand was imbedded into his right shoulder, nearly cleaving his arm off, blood spurting from the wound as he cried out in even more pain, this surge more intense than the last. "You don't stand a chance against even a single one of us you filth. Trying to ambush us, by yourself no less, was the last mistake you'll ever make." The metal jawed man informed his enemy, before tearing his axe out of his flesh.

Fighting to stay on his feet, Krieg stumbled and staggered, intent on attacking again as he refused to let go of his weapon. "I will not be defeated, not this time dammit! You..." His voice tapered off, his body throbbing in protest to the exertion it was under. "...I won't lose again, I REFUSE!" He exclaimed at the top of his lungs, lifting his blade haphazardly and striking out with it, not caring who it hit, just as long as it hit them.

It was intercepted by Alvida, using her club rather than allowing it to hit her skin and proceed to skim off her. "You won't lose again?" She repeated, putting special emphasis on the again as she did. "So you lost before then? I mean I figured as much but-" She was unable to finish as the injured man screamed at her, "Don't you mock me bitch!" Trying to pull back, he stumbled some more, before slashing at her again, only to be blocked for the umpteenth time.

"I'm not mocking you." She told him as calmly as possible, feeling irritated about the bitch comment making it just a little tough to do so. "I was wondering who beat you and wanted to confirm that you in fact had been beaten in the first place. If it wasn't clear before, it certainly is now, you reaction made that certain." Snarling once more, he moved to attack further. "Would you just hold on a moment? She queried.

He didn't give any real response, but the fact that he stopped trying to pull away to swing at her once more must have meant something. So, she lowered her club and took the poster out of her bikini top. "Was he the one who defeated you?" She inquired, showing him Luffy's bounty as she did.

Eyes widening to the size of dinner plates, they became almost crimson red with how bloodshot they were, the owner of them yelling as he registered who he was seeing. "IT'S THAT FUCKING BRAT!"

"So you do know him? Guess I should have seen that coming." The slender woman said to herself, tucking the paper away once again.

"RAGH!" Krieg roared wordlessly as he tried for another strike, whilst his target was busy stashing the poster into her bikini top. Only to be intercepted once more, this time by Buggy, blocking the sword with eight knives, each tucked between the spaces of his fingers.

"Whoa, hold up there big guy." Buggy told Krieg, as he continued to try and push through with strength alone, to no avail. "The sight of that punk pisses me off too, but you shouldn't go attacking us. After all, we all want the same thing." The clown pirate explained. "We want Straw Hat dead just as much as you do."

"Is that so!?" Krieg wondered aloud, if a bit angrily, yet to stop trying to overwhelm his opponent with his strength as he did, and yet to accomplish it.

"Oh yeah, we want him six feet under more than anything. I mean, it's not just you who he's screwed over ya know?" The big red nosed man elucidated. "We can all sympathize with the way you're feeling." He added.

Don seemed to ease up at that, barely keeping his blade in contact with the blue haired man's knives as he continued to speak. "Because of that, we all decided to team up. Ya know, take the bastard on together. With great pirates the likes of us all in one place, not only will it make for one hell of a flashy show, it'll also guarantee our victory against the rubber moron." Buggy asserted with a nasty grin. "He won't stand a chance against all of us."

"Like I'd stoop to becoming pirate scum like y-" Morgan began to protest, only to be cut off by Alvida, who raised her club and told him to be quiet. It didn't work of course, but it got him arguing with her rather than interrupting and possibly ruining Buggy's try at recruitment.

Seeing the uncertainty in Krieg, Buggy continued to lay it on thick. "Think about it, Iron Club Alvida, Buggy The Clown, Axe-Hand Morgan, Kuro the Man Of A Thousand Plans and Foul Play Krieg, all fighting together in one place. It would be the stuff of legends. No one could hope to stand against us. Hell, with all of our power, we could conquer the whole fricking world! Hahahahaha! Join our alliance, with the five of us together, we could do anything!"

Don Krieg seemed to think it over for a few moments, until he lowered his weapon. "Fine, I'll join this alliance of yours. But don't think for a single moment I'll be taking any orders from any of you." He warned them, looking rather aggravated about what he was doing. It was clear he didn't want to join, but thought it his best chance to get revenge. He was a member begrudgingly, but he was now a member regardless.

That said, he walked away, heading down below deck, most likely to get something, not that any of the others knew what. As he did, Alvida, who had finished bickering with Morgan a moment or so ago, spoke up, "Not bad Buggy. Not bad at all."

"Why thank you Alvida."

"It seems you're finally getting into the groove of being in alliance." She commented.

"You could be right." Buggy admitted. "But really, I just want to insurance that we'll be able to pull this off. That damn Straw Hat, he's a pest that needs to be stomped already."

"I think it's safe to say you aren't the only one who feels that way." Alvida told him, her eyes wandering to Kuro and Morgan, then to the door Krieg had used to go below deck.

"No, I guess I'm not." Buggy agreed with another nasty smile. 'You're dead Straw Hat.' He thought to himself then with certainty.

* * *

**_To Be Continued..._**


End file.
